MALAYSIAN made Covid-19 vaccine could be ready in 2024, Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) Deputy Minister Ahmad Amzad Hashim said today.

“If we look at the level of research that has been done (on Covid-19 vaccines), hopefully in 2024, we would have a candidate for the first Covid-19 vaccine,” the Kuala Terengganu MP said in Parliament today.

He was answering Wong Kah Woh (Ipoh Timur-PH) on when Malaysia will have its own Covid-19 vaccine.

Ahmad Amzad said that under the Ministry of Health, there are two types of Covid-19 vaccines being developed by the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) focusing on variants of concern (VOC) in Malaysia, which are the inactivated vaccine and mRNA technology vaccine.

He said if the conceptualisation of these two vaccines are successful, then the implementation of the production of these vaccines must be done in a laboratory that has been accredited as Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).

He said Mosti is also researching two Covid-19 vaccine projects under the Mosti Combatting Covid-19 Fund (MCCOF), which is the development of Modular Muccosal Vaccine Platform Using Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) Bacteria Against Covid-19 and Construction of Recombinant Newcastle Disease Virus Expressing Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) Protein of SARS-CoV-2 Virus as a vaccine candidate.

He said the cost for these projects is valued at RM4.93 million.

Ahmad Amzad said Mosti is also looking at different methods of administering the vaccines through the National Vaccine Development Roadmap (PPVN).

“There are people who fear needles. Among the developments that are being worked on include administering vaccines orally (mouth) and via nasal spray (nose),” he said.

The deputy minister said the ministry is not only focused on developing Covid-19 vaccines but is also looking at production of other vaccines, adding that Malaysia currently only has the capacity to produce animal vaccines.

“The PPVN is just not limited to the production of Covid-19 vaccines alone but also to enable Malaysia to produce (other) locally made human vaccines.

“So, among the other vaccines we are working on include cholera vaccines and vaccines related to neck and head cancer,” he said.

On November 1, 2021, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob launched PPVN and the Malaysian Genome and Vaccine Institute (MGVI) in an effort to turn the country into a hub for vaccine production and boost confidence in vaccine use. – March 7, 2022.