It described as baseless a private medical practitioner’s allegations of corruption in the procurement process of Covid-19 vaccines, and said discussions for the procurement of the Moderna vaccine were held with its manufacturer at the end of 2020.

However, due to the offer to ship the vaccine only in the third quarter of 2021, the government’s vaccine supply committee (JKJAV) decided that procurement deals should be made with other manufacturers that could supply vaccines earlier to speed up the national Covid-19 immunisation programme, the ministry said in a statement today.

It added that the registration for Moderna was only submitted to the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) in July through its appointed company.

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

The ministry said it viewed the allegations seriously and would lodge a police report on the matter.

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

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

The health ministry had announced earlier today that its Drug Control Authority had approved the conditional registration of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine.

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