Khairy: Nothing black and white on UAE's vaccine gift yet
COVID-19 | Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has yet to see any official document related to a reported donation of 500,000 doses of a Covid-19 vaccine from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to be trialled in Malaysia.
This came after Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah appeared to be in the dark over the vaccine gift and said he had only heard about the matter....
COVID-19 | Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has yet to see any official document related to a reported donation of 500,000 doses of a Covid-19 vaccine from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to be trialled in Malaysia.
This came after Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah appeared to be in the dark over the vaccine gift and said he had only heard about the matter.
"This offer came from the UAE. I heard that the UAE wants to give 500,000 doses of one of the Chinese vaccines to Malaysia," Khairy told a press conference today.
"I have not seen anything in black and white. This is something I have heard as Noor Hisham said we have not received anything officially.
"The position of the government is that even if that is in the form of a gift, bestowed by the government of the UAE, it still has to be subjected to the regulatory approval of National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA)," Khairy said.
Government newswire Bernama previously reported that the UAE government intends to donate half-a-million vaccine doses for third-phase clinical trials in Malaysia.
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah was on a five-day visit in the UAE from Dec 15, at the invitation of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed Zayed Al Nahyan, reportedly to discuss the donation.
The UAE has not developed any Covid-19 vaccine of its own but is currently hosting efficacy trials for two Covid-19 vaccines.
One vaccine is developed by Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute, while the other vaccine is being produced in a collaboration between Sinopharm and the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products.
Malaysia is currently hosting one Covid-19 vaccine trial, which uses an experimental vaccine from the Institute of Medical Biology Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (IMBCAMS).
The trial is being conducted in eight public hospitals and would involve 3,000 participants.
On Monday, Noor Hisham said he had merely heard about the matter as no document about the vaccine had been submitted to the NPRA.
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