RM3.4mil allocation made to develop two Covid-19 vaccines, says Science Ministry

PETALING JAYA: An allocation of RM3.4mil has been set aside for the development of two types of Covid-19 vaccines under the Health Ministry’s Institute for Medical Research (IMR), the Dewan Rakyat was told.

Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim said the two types of vaccines being developed are the inactivated vaccine and the mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccine.

“Under the Health Ministry, there are two types of Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the IMR using allocations under the Ministry and sukuk Prihatin in the range of RM3.4mil and focused on the variants of concerns (VOC) available in Malaysia.

“If the proof of concept of these two vaccines is successful, the production of the vaccines must be done in a laboratory which has been certified with GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice),” he said in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Mar 7).

This was in response to a question by Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PH-Pandan) and Wong Kah Woh (PH-Ipoh Timur) on the progress of vaccine research and development.

On the development of the Vaccine Development Roadmap (PPVN) and the Malaysian Genome and Vaccine Institute (MGVI), Ahmad Amzad said a total of RM349.9mil is needed for the MGVI between 2022 to 2025.

“The allocations are necessary to bridge the gaps identified in vaccine production such as the unavailability of a laboratory to perform pre-clinical studies and clinics that meet GLP and GMP standards as well as difficulty in getting clinical specialists, especially to monitor pre-clinical studies and first-in-human (FIH) studies,” said Ahmad Amzad.

He also said that there were two Covid-19 research projects funded by the Ministry through its Combating Covid-19 Fund (MCCOF) as well as another two research projects under the Strategic Research Fund (SRF).

The two research projects under MCCOF are Development of Modular Mucosal Vaccine Platform Using Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) Bacteria Against Covid-19, with funding of RM2.23mil, and Construction of Recombinant Newcastle Disease Virus Expressing Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) Protein of SARS-CoV-2 as a Vaccine Candidate, with funding of RM2.7mil.

The two research projects under the SRF include the development of an oral vaccine against Covid-19, using attenuated Vibrio cholerae strains with funding of RM1.057mil, which is a joint project between Universiti Sains Malaysia and AIMST University.

Another SRF project is the development of a pan-coronavirus subunit vaccine with funding of RM1.79mil, said Ahmad Amzad.

“This project will start in 2022 to 2024, and we are still in the process of finding relevant vaccine candidates,” he said.

Ahmad Amzad added that the National Vaccine Development Steering Committee (NASCOV) chaired by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, as well as the first meeting of the Malaysian Vaccine Sectoral Working Group (MVSWG), will be held this month.

“The role of NASCOV is to ensure strategies and initiatives under the PPVN are executed in an orderly manner.

“Meanwhile, the MVSWG has a role to monitor and determine the direction of the overall strategies and initiatives of the PPVN,” said Ahmad Amzad.