PUTRAJAYA: The United Arab Emirates plans to gift Malaysia 500,000 Covid-19 vaccines as part of a government-to-government (G2G) initiative, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has confirmed.
While Khairy was unable to provide details as to which pharmaceutical company the vaccine would be sourced from, he said it would need regulatory approval in Malaysia before being rolled out.
“This offer from the UAE is a government-to-government offer. I have heard that UAE wants to gift … 500,000 doses of one of the Chinese vaccines to Malaysia,” said Khairy during a press conference here today.
“I’ve not seen anything in black and white yet. It’s just something that I have heard.
“As Hisham (health director general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah) has said, we have not received anything officially, but the position of the (Malaysian) government is that even if it is in the form of a gift … it will still have to be subject to regulatory approval by the NPRA (National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency).”
In a statement today, Noor Hisham said it takes roughly three to four months to register a Covid-19 vaccine with NPRA.
While he confirmed the UAE was interested in donating vaccines to Malaysia, Noor Hisham was also unable during his press conference to verify if the vaccine was from China or elsewhere.
Malaysia is currently negotiating with two Chinese firms, Sinovac and CanSino, for the procurement of vaccines.
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST DATA ON THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA