COVID-19 vaccine development
There are over 150 vaccines in various phases of development, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
11 of which have reached Phase 3 trial:
- United Kingdom (UK): The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca
- United States (US): Moderna
- US: Novavax
- US/Germany: Pfizer and BioNTech
- China: CanSino with the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology
- China: Beijing Institute of Biological Products and Sinopharm
- China: Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and Sinopharm
- China/Brazil: Sinovac and Instituto Butantan
- Belgium: Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies
- Russia: Gamaleya Research Institute
- India: Bharat Biotech, Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology
However, with rapid development of COVID-19 vaccine, most experts believed that a vaccine would be made available earliest by mid-2021.
Vaccine diplomacy
There has been a global race of countries acquiring vaccine by purchasing doses of them before they are even approved.
With richer countries such as the UK, US, and Germany being in the lead, poorer nations that have already exhausted their healthcare system, may not even be able to get their hands on the vaccines at all.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres had emphasized that the virus “respects no borders”, thus a vaccine must be seen as “a global public good”.
Similarly, WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noted that while it is natural for countries to protect their own citizens, the only way to fully recover from the pandemic is by working together and ensuring that poorer countries had fair access to a vaccine.
“Let me be clear: vaccine nationalism will prolong the pandemic, not shorten it.”
In April, COVAX, an international initiative co-led by WHO and partners was established to ensure effective and equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines. It now has 184 member states, including Malaysia.
The World Bank recently also announced an approval of US$12 billion for developing countries to finance the purchase and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments for their citizens.
Countries securing COVID-19 vaccine
- Russia’s Sputnik V will be distributing its supply to Latin America as early as December 2020, having received 1.2 billion requests for deliveries across the globe.
- Vietnam has ordered vaccines from partners in Russia and the UK.
- Through Operation Warp Speed, The US aims to produce and deliver 300 million doses of vaccines initial doses be made available by January 2021. Recently, it announced that it will be expecting up to 100 million doses by the end of the year.
- The UK has placed orders of 340 million doses of different vaccines from several manufacturers in hopes that one will be successful in clinal trials in the coming months.
- Besides a vaccine development cooperation with China and South Korea, Indonesia has secured a commitment of 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from UK’s AstraZeneca for delivery next year.
- Japan has made arrangements with UK’s AstraZeneca Plc and US’s Pfizer Inc to procure 120 million doses of vaccine and negotiating with US’s Moderna Inc for an additional 40 million doses. The Japanese government also vouched to give out the vaccine for free to its citizens.
What about Malaysia?
Malaysia is expected to secure access to COVID-19 vaccine supply in the first quarter of 2021.
In a joint statement by The Health Ministry (MOH) along with the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (MOSTI), it was confirmed that MOH has been in contact with eight vaccine candidates who are now at the third phase of clinical trial.
The government will provide financial allocation for the vaccine purchase through the Finance Ministry’s COVID-19 Fund while priority would be given to frontliners from the health and security sectors such as doctors, nurses, police as well as prison and immigration personnel.
Malaysia has also announced last month that it would be joining COVAX and would be negotiating bilaterally with other countries to procure vaccines.
Through talks between Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein and his visiting Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, China had also agreed to list Malaysia as a priority recipient of the vaccine after it has completed clinical trials.
The government will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China to ensure Malaysia will be among the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine from the country once it has successfully been developed, possibly by the end of the year.
