Malaysia’s COVID-19 Vaccine Portfolio
As of February 2021, Malaysia has secured 66.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility and advance purchases from five vaccine manufacturers. Of the five vaccine manufacturers, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has obtained conditional approval from the Drug Control Authority (DCA) and the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) on the 8th of January 2021.
Currently, Malaysia does not have the capacity or complete facilities for vaccine manufacturing. Therefore, Malaysia needs to get supplies of COVID-19 vaccines that have been developed by other countries. In negotiations for the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccine, the Government has included value-added elements to enable Malaysia to develop our vaccine development capacity in the country.
For example, the Malaysian Government has signed Terms Sheet agreements with Pharmaniaga and Solution Biologics Sdn Bhd to carry out the fill and finish manufacturing process locally, which is the last step of filling the vaccine into the vials before it is distributed. Through this measure, the Sinovac and CanSinoBio vaccines will be purchased in bulk and the manufacturing process will be implemented in Malaysia, which in turn will accelerate vaccine deployment. The Government is also in talks with the Russian Government about R&D and manufacturing of the Sputnik V vaccine in Malaysia to increase the amount of COVID-19 vaccine doses that can be used in Malaysia and the region.
The Government has also signed a Bilateral Investors Agreement with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) to enable Malaysia to gain access to vaccine R&D, technology transfer and new expertise for local researchers. MOSTI has also funded local vaccine research and development for COVID-19 through the MOSTI Combating COVID-19 Fund (MCCOF) to two groups of researchers from Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). Malaysia is also the first country outside of China to conduct clinical trials for an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine made by the Institute of Medical Biology Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, China (IMBCAMS) involving 3,000 volunteers. Given that Malaysia and the world are at risk of being exposed to other pandemics in the future, the Government, through the National Science Council, in a meeting in July 2020 agreed that the National Vaccine Development Roadmap be drafted as a longterm plan for Malaysia to manufacture vaccines locally.
COVID-19 Vaccination Policy The COVID-19 vaccination is voluntary and will be provided free of charge to all those living in Malaysia (citizens and non-citizens). The age limit is 18 years and above, this will be evaluated from time to time. The approach by the Government is to ensure that at least 80% of Malaysia’s adult population receive vaccines by February 2022 to reduce infections, hospitalisations and death. For vaccines that require two doses, each individual will get a vaccine of the same type and the duration of receiving the second dose will depend on the type of vaccine allocated to them. For example, the interval between the first and second dose for:
• the Pfizer & Sputnik V vaccine- 21 days;
• the AstraZeneca vaccine- 28 days; and
• the Sinovac vaccine - 14 days
Vaccines will be distributed in stages nationally based on supplies and deliveries from vaccine manufacturers.
Vaccine Distribution Strategy and Target Groups
The first strategy is to vaccinate frontliners, especially those in the health sector, to ensure that they are protected from contracting COVID-19. This is to ensure that the health sector continues to operate optimally.
The second strategy is to reduce the burden of disease for those in highrisk groups so they are protected from a COVID-19 infections. This in turn can reduce the load on the Malaysian public health system.
The third strategy to control this pandemic is for the vaccination to be carried out in high-risk areas throughout phases two and three through risk assessment to control the spread of the disease. Overall, MOH has developed the priority list for vaccination based on:
a. The epidemiology of the disease and clinical data;
b. Types of vaccines;
c. Operational factors; and d. Risk assessment
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