PETALING JAYA: Chances of Malaysians getting their hands on updated Covid-19 vaccines appear dim following what appears to be a lack of bivalent versions here, even if they are already widely available in other countries.
All the Covid-19 vaccines dispensed here previously were developed to fight the original versions of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The vaccines introduced about four years ago from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Sinovac target the original version of the virus.
Updated vaccines started emerging around 2022, including the bivalent vaccines, which cover more recent variants of the virus as the original strain has mutated over time.
For example, both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been updated several times to combat new variants such as the Omicron strains of the virus.
The bivalent vaccines rolled out in 2022 targeted both the original virus as well as Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.
In 2023, a monovalent vaccine targeted the XBB lineage of the Omicron variant, and this year, a new updated shot was created to protect against KP.2, which circulated in the United States earlier in the year.
The Star has learnt that bivalent vaccine procurement did not turn out as planned despite being announced two years ago.
Sources said that this was due to “complications”, though they declined to comment further due to non-disclosure agreements.
“We will not be procuring the bivalent vaccines. Instead, we are trying to get the monovalent vaccines, which is the latest recommendation by the World Health Organisation,” a highly-placed government source said.
However, it is unclear whether payments had been made in relation to this purchase.
Then caretaker Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced in October 2022 that the bivalent vaccine by Pfizer-BioNTech would arrive in the country by the end of November that year.
His successor, Dr Zaliha Mustafa, said in May 2023 that the ministry was still awaiting approval of the purchase.
The following month, Deputy Health Minister Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni said Malaysia would receive 2.7 million doses of bivalent Covid-19 vaccines as a replacement for the almost expired stock in the ministry’s inventory.
A look at the ministry’s KKMNow GitHub database as of Dec 4 showed that practically no Covid-19 vaccinations had been carried out since February, with only one or two doses being administered here and there.
The database also did not display any information on the third booster doses administered, despite the Health Ministry previously encouraging the public to go for the additional shot.
It was previously reported that the public could walk into government health clinics and hospitals for their booster shot.
While Sinovac’s CoronaVac was an option on MySejahtera, checks showed that a booster dose appointment could not be made via the app, with attempts to book an appointment yielding no results as no vaccination centres were available. This was despite a link for an appointment being available on the app.
Another source explained that the low dispensing rate was due to reasons such as a bulk of the vaccines in the government’s inventory expiring.
Prof Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh, a health economics and public health specialist with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Faculty of Medicine, said although the Covid-19 risk is not very high at this juncture, it would be good to have a minimum stock on hand as new variants will continue to emerge.
This is especially for high-risk groups such as healthcare workers and the elderly.
“[The situation] requires a vaccine that works against multiple sub-variants. And this vaccine has to be provided each year, like for influenza,”she said.
In July, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad told the Dewan Rakyat that over nine million doses of Covid-19 vaccines procured during the pandemic expired as of June 2024, resulting in a RM185mil loss to the government.
He said the expired vaccines comprised around 10.8% of Malaysia’s overall procured vaccine doses during the pandemic, which came up to 84.5 million doses as of February 2021.
Transparency International Malaysia president Dr Muhammad Mohan said it would be prudent for the ministry to provide an explanation of what went wrong and the current status of vaccine supplies.
“Why is there no news about that? Did we receive the supplies, or was the procurement cancelled? Do we have any stock now for any emergency?
“This would help address public concerns and ensure transparency and accountability,” he said.
Questions were also raised about what happened to the expired vaccines.
“Did we dispose of the expired vaccines or did we donate [nearly expiring stock] to countries that needed the vaccines?
“Either way, it would have been money down the drain, but the least the Health Ministry could do is to explain this in Parliament or make an announcement, rather than keeping silent,” he said.
Muhammad also urged the Health Minister to provide answers for the sake of good governance, transparency, and accountability, which, he added, are values espoused by the current government.
