IPOH: The Veterinary Research Institute (VRI) here plays an important role in providing laboratory service facilities for the study of the Covid-19 vaccine and its efficacy.
Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee said VRI is currently collaborating with the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) to develop the production of a Covid-19 vaccine for Malaysia.
"As we can see, the history of the VRI's establishment has succeeded in creating many discoveries in terms of vaccine production for various animal diseases in our country.
"VRI is equipped with technology to conduct various researches including animal disease. At this time, VRI is collaborating with IMR to conduct a pre-clinical study on vaccines.
"The pre-clinical studies include one on the effectiveness of the vaccine on animals," he told reporters visiting the VRI on Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah here today.
Also present were Veterinary Services Department (DVS) director-general Datuk Dr Norlizan Mohd Noor and state Plantation, Agriculture and Food Industry committee chairman Razman Zakaria.
Ronald said the VRI has a complete and suitable facility for the study of the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccine on animals, which is currently being developed by the MRI.
"The discovery of vaccines for animals that have been successfully achieved by VRI is now being used by many industries in the country. We hope VRI will continue to move forward to conduct more research for animal diseases in our country," he said.
It was reported that Covid-19 vaccine development in Malaysia is still in the proof of concept stage before pre-clinical trial phases can start, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.
Dr Adham said it has allocated RM15 million for Covid-19 vaccine research and development (R&D), among others, Universiti Malaya's TIDREC and scientists at University Putra Malaysia.
He added that vaccines at IMR would be developed through strategic collaboration with researchers from UPM and the VRI.