KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is not in a hurry to join the Covax Facility, a World Health Organisation (WHO)-led initiative aimed at accelerating the development and distribution of an effective vaccine against Covid-19, despite 78 countries confirming their participation in the plan.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said Malaysia has its own stand on the matter and must consider several issues before deciding to participate in the initiative.
He said factors include the diplomatic approach that must be taken, as the development of the vaccine involves foreign countries.
"We also have to look at the effectiveness of the vaccine and ensure it is safe to be used, which also needs to be prioritised.
"In addition, we have the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Division (NPRA), or better known as the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (NPCB), which would need to evaluate Malaysia's participation in Covax, whether it is a necessity or not.
"As such, whether there is a need to participate (in Covax) or not, we will not rush into it, because even without the vaccine, we have been able to flatten infections to one digit," he said.
Dr Adham said this after launching the handover ceremony of the Batu Muda Level 2 Health Clinic project here, today.
He said health authorities are currently giving priority to Covid-19 import cases involving Malaysians returning from abroad.
"We will test them at the country's international entry points and hope testing would be able to curb the spread of imported cases.
"In addition, we have restricted the entry of citizens from several countries as announced by the Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob," he said.
Covax is co-led by GAVI, the WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and is designed to discourage national governments from hoarding Covid-19 vaccines, and to focus on first vaccinating the most high-risk people in every country.
Its backers say this strategy should lead to lower vaccine costs for everyone, and a swifter end to the pandemic that has claimed some 860,000 lives globally.
Wealthy countries that join Covax will purchase the vaccine using funds from their national budgets. They will partner with 92 poorer nations, supported through voluntary donations to the plan, to ensure that vaccines are delivered equitably, said chief executive of the GAVI vaccines alliance Seth Berkley.
Participating wealthy countries are also free to procure vaccines through bilateral deals and other plans.