PAC satisfied with COVID-19 vaccine procurement process - Khairy

PUTRAJAYA: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is satisfied with the COVID-19 vaccine procurement process, says Coordinating Minister for the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme, Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and himself had presented the information and details of the vaccine procurement to the PAC on Jan 5, although the government was still bound by the non-disclosure agreement signed with the vaccine manufacturers.

In his counter statement to opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on the immunisation programme today, Khairy said the details and agreement documents had also been presented to the PAC.

"The PAC through a statement from its chairman, Wong Kah Woh who is also the Ipoh Timur Member of Parliament from DAP, stated that the PAC was satisfied with the presentation and COVID-19 vaccine procurement process," he said, adding that there were also three PKR members in the PAC.

Anwar was reported to have raised some questions pertaining to the immunisation programme, such as transparency in the vaccine procurement, the RM3 billion allocation to purchase various types of vaccine and the parameter used in the decision making.

On claims that the government was not paying attention to the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia, Khairy said it was not true as it was already in the country's COVID-19 vaccine procurement portfolio and was currently being evaluated by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) for approval and registration purposes.

On local researchers' involvement in vaccine development, Khairy said the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (MOSTI) had funded the research and development of local vaccines for COVID-19 through the MOSTI Combating COVID-19 Fund (MCCOF).

The fund was given to two groups of researchers from the University of Malaya and Universiti Putra Malaysia, he said.

While admitting that Malaysia did not have a complete vaccine manufacturing facility, Khairy said: "Therefore, in the negotiations for the COVID-19 vaccine procurement with several suppliers, the government had included the element of value added to enable Malaysia to have vaccine development capacity in the future."

Khairy said he would provide more information on the immunisation programme in a briefing session with Members of Parliament soon and the invitation letters had been sent out.

-- BERNAMA