PUTRAJAYA:Malaysia is awaiting data from the third phase of clinical trials from all COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing companies before deciding on the procurement of the vaccine.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the data was important to enable the Ministry of Health (MOH) to ensure that the vaccine is effective and safe for use.

So far, there were 12 COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing companies that were in the midst of conducting the third phase of clinical trials, he said.

“For now, we still don’t know the effectiveness of the vaccine as the data from the third phase of the clinical trials has yet to be published.

“Once we get the data, only then we can consider using it and so far we have only heard about its effectiveness through media reports,” he said in the daily COVID-19 media briefing here yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said so far, the available COVID-19 vaccine have not yet been registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“Just like medicines, vaccine must also be registered with the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency) (NPRA),” he said.

On the MOH’s projection when the third wave of COVID-19 in the country would end, Dr Noor Hisham said there was no estimation when the situation would subside and the ministry would continue implementing health control measures to curb the spread of the virus.

-- BERNAMA