KUALA LUMPUR: Private hospitals will likely get their vaccine supplies earliest by September or October this year and only after obtaining Health Ministry's National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) approval.
Association of Private Hospital of Malaysia (APHM) president Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh said these vaccines, different from the existing ones, might take between two and three months in a best-case scenario for private hospitals to procure on the condition that the government hasten their vaccines approval.
Dr Kuljit said private hospitals could not source vaccines like Pfizer and AstraZeneca that the government has already procured.
"Hence, we have to look at procuring Moderna, Johnson and Johnson and Sinopharm. These vaccines have yet to register with NPRA. We need to apply these vaccines and get approval from NPRA," he told the New Straits Times when contacted yesterday.
He said private hospitals would also face an uphill task in obtaining approval for new vaccines as other vaccines such as Sputnik and CanSino are already on the waiting list to be approved.
"If we (private hospitals) were to log in new vaccines in the likes of Moderna and Sinopharm, it would take a long time for the approval," he said.
Dr Kuljit said it would be pointless to get the vaccines later than October for private hospitals. By then, the government's vaccines would have been available for the public, covering most of the population.
"Unless the government wants to come out with an emergency use to shorten the approval process, then the government has to consider prioritise the vaccines that need to be given," he said.
Dr Kuljit said the country would not achieve the philosophy of enhancing herd immunity if private hospitals get their vaccines later than September or October or by the end of this year.
"We rather help the government's National Immunisation Programme (NIP). We already started vaccinating the government's vaccines for the public free of charge," he said.
To date, he said the government gave no guidelines under the private vaccination programme.
Echoing Dr Kuljit, Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care (RSDH) in an email response said private hospitals might face challenges to bring in new vaccine brands due to varying volume and capacity in each hospital.
Vaccine suppliers may not have supplies aside from their government-to-government (G2G) obligations, RSDH cautioned.
RSDH comprises Subang Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC), Parkcity Medical Centre (PMC) and Ara Damansara Medical Centre in Malaysia.
SJMC and PMC are vaccinations centres (PPV) supporting the Covid-19 Immunisation Task-Force (CITF) under the National Immunisation Programme to vaccinate eligible public who registered through the MySejahtera app.
IHH Healthcare Bhd and Sunway Medical Centre did not immediately respond to NST queries at press time.
IHH Healthcare hospitals in Malaysia include Pantai Medical Centre, Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur and Prince Court Medical Centre.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin recently said that state government and private hospitals in Malaysia could procure their vaccines as long as they have been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
He added that private hospitals were only required to register their vaccine purchases with the NPRA.