Covax is co-led by the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the World Health Organization (WHO). It aims to accelerate the development and production of Covid-19 vaccines, and guarantees fair and equitable access for every country in the world.
According to Khairy, who is also the science, technology and innovation minister, many parts of the world, especially low- and middle-income countries are struggling to get access to vaccine supply and also do not have the capability or capacity to manufacture their own home-grown vaccine.
“The developed countries have cornered much of the supplies and poorer countries now have to rely on facilities like Covax to get their vaccines. This inequity is injustice.
“Malaysia pre-empted this and started negotiating early, including with AstraZeneca, to secure enough supply to immunise about 80% of the population by the end of this year,” he said in his keynote address via Zoom at the AstraZeneca Health Innovation Hub launch today.
He noted that credit must be given to AstraZeneca, a science-led biopharmaceutical company for deciding to sell its vaccines at cost during the pandemic to ensure vaccine equity as well as to make up a big portion of the Covax vaccine supply.
Malaysia is scheduled to start receiving the delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine in May. It involves the procurement of 6.4 million doses for the use of 3.2 million people.
Other than that, Khairy said Malaysia’s lack of capability to produce human vaccines for now is a wake-up call for him and his ministry to build up capabilities, especially in the healthcare sector.
He also congratulated Sunway University and AstraZeneca on the establishment of the first Health Innovation Hub which would strategically support the development of a more robust primary care ecosystem in the country.
“As the country’s first such innovation hub that brings together the resources of an academic establishment and a multinational pharma company, the site at Sunway Innovation Labs (Sunway iLabs) will provide a strategic platform to facilitate R&D, digital and commercial collaboration with local stakeholders and start-ups,” he added.
The hub is part of the AstraZeneca A Catalyst Network and the tenth one launched in emerging markets. It also has hubs located in Russia, Brazil, Argentina, India, Singapore and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, as well as mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.