In a report published today on the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, PAC said that by the time the ceiling price was fixed by the government, it had already passed the point when demand for the Sinovac vaccine in private healthcare facilities had peaked.

“Because the ceiling price was fixed too late, it did not benefit the public at large,” PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh said.

“Each dose was priced at RM150 between August (2021) and Jan 15 (2022), which was when the ceiling price was fixed.”

According to Wong, many complaints were received about the pricing for the Sinovac vaccine when the demand was high, that is in September and October last year.

“At the time, there were many (Covid-19) cases and everyone was rushing for the vaccine, and some people had no choice but to pay to get their Sinovac doses,” he said.

Based on information furnished by the health ministry to the PAC, 2.2 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine were sold prior to the fixing of the ceiling price.

It was announced in July 2021 that pharmaceutical companies were allowed to begin the sale of vaccines they were importing or making locally to private healthcare facilities after having previously supplied it to the government for its national immunisation programme.

At the time, there were calls for a ceiling price to keep the cost to consumers low.

However, Pharmaniaga set its price at RM350 for two doses of the Sinovac vaccine, inclusive of clinical charges amounting to RM50. According to the PAC, though they have no issue with some level of profit-taking, this price was too high.

On Jan 15, Putrajaya finally announced a ceiling price for commercial sales of two vaccines made in China, namely Sinovac and Sinopharm.

In a joint statement at the time, health minister Khairy Jamaluddin and domestic trade and consumer affairs minister Alexander Nanta Linggi said the move was made after the government noticed the high and varying prices of vaccines provided by private healthcare facilities.

The Sinovac vaccine was fixed at no more than RM62 via wholesale and RM77 for customers. The Sinopharm vaccine was fixed at RM48 for wholesale and with a retail cap of RM61.