THE attacks against Putrajaya’s vaccine procurement strategy would only undermine and erode public confidence in efforts to secure safe and effective vaccines against Covid-19, said a health think-tank today.

The Galen Centre for Health & Social Policy said the criticism, including from politicians, touch on accusations ranging from overpaying to misleading the public on how much will be spent on these life-saving therapies.

“While much of the confusion is due to the complexity of pharmaceutical procurement, a large portion of the attacks have been based on misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories which continue to persist in the face of facts,” said Azrul Mohd Khalib, CEO of the Galen Centre.

Close scrutiny is necessary when public funds are concerned but a number of points have been misrepresented either deliberately or from ignorance, said Azrul.

“Opportunists, including anti-vaxxers in Malaysia, have jumped on the vaccine issue and politicised it, especially in the wake of the revelation of vaccine prices by Belgium’s budget state secretary Eva De Bleeker.”

The list of vaccine prices shared by the Belgian minister is for the European Union (EU) as a bloc, which has a population of 447 million, he said.

“It is not pricing just for Belgium. The EU pricing is also for a single dose. As reported, Belgium will purchase more than 33 million doses for a total of €279 million (RM1.38 billion) for their population of 12 million.

“Volume and the country’s economic status have an impact on pricing. The EU pricing also does not include vaccine logistical costs to vaccination sites,” said Azrul.

Yesterday, DAP lawmaker Lim Kit Siang said Malaysians are entitled to know how much the government is really paying for the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in the face of confusion over the price.

The Iskandar Puteri MP said the government, specifically Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, must reveal the true amount.

This is after Belgium said recently it is paying a much lower price than what Malaysia is reported to have paid the drug maker, he said.

Azrul, however, said the government has stated it has allocated RM3 billion for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines which are expected to cover at least 70% of the population.

Putrajaya has not and is not expected to pay RM3 billion for just 10 million vaccines, he said.

“Based on publicly available information, 12.8 million doses (enough for 6.4 million people) of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be procured.

“And, 6.4 million doses each from the Covax initiative and AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines, when combined (12.8 million doses) will protect 20% of the population.

“With these three vaccines, around 40% of the population can expect to be vaccinated in 2021.”

Galen Centre estimates that the Pfizer vaccine at US$19.50 per dose (publicly known pricing) would cost around US$249.6 million (around RM1 billion).

However, Khairy recently said in Parliament that the government is able to secure the price of a single dose at less than RM100, which includes the logistical costs up to the vaccination sites that will be handled by Pfizer.

“This would mean that Malaysia is probably paying around RM1.2 billion for that vaccine. For Covax, we estimate that it would cost RM275 million at RM86 per person) and for AstraZeneca RM89.6 million at RM 28 per person.”

He added that much of the protest and deliberate misinformation are a result of middlemen or tender agents being excluded from these vaccine deals. – December 22, 2020.