Vaccine procurement corruption allegations baseless - MOH

Referring to allegations of corruption in the procurement process of COVID-19 vaccine, raised by a private medical practitioner, Dr Musa Nordin, MOH, in a statement today, said that discussions for the procurement of Moderna type vaccine were held with its manufacturer ModernaTX Inc at the end of 2020.

However, due to the offer to ship the Moderna vaccine only in the third quarter of 2021, the Special Committee for Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) decided that procurement should be made with other manufacturers who could supply COVID-19 vaccine earlier, to speed up the implementation of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme, the ministry said.

MOH said that ModernaTX also only submitted registration to the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) in July this year through its appointed company.

On Tuesday, Dr Musa claimed that JKJAV did not procure the Moderna vaccine, and NPRA still did not register the vaccine, because they were not given enough kickbacks.

The MOH, which views the allegations seriously, will lodge a police report on the matter.

It also said that the government would decide on the need for the Moderna vaccine once the vaccine was approved for registration by the NPRA, including its use as a booster shot or through heterology.

"The government already has a portfolio and a sufficient number of doses to vaccinate the population of Malaysia," it said.

Meanwhile, the 362nd Drug Control Authority (DCA) Meeting today approved conditional registration for use during an emergency situation of the Spikevax 0.20 mg/ml Dispersion for Injection COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine (nucleoside modified) product from product registration holder (PRH) Zuellig Pharma Sdn Bhd, and manufacturer Rovi Pharma Industrial Services, Spain.

The Spikevax product is also known as the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine.