This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 9, 2021 - August 15, 2021

Malaysia has granted conditional approval for the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. The ministry will continue to evaluate the quality, safety and effectiveness of the vaccine to ensure that its benefits outweigh the risks, he added. Currently, Malaysia administers the Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines, which also require two-dose shots.

Sirim Bhd will cooperate with local institutions on studies during the preliminary stages of Covid-19 vaccine development in Malaysia, said its group president and CEO Datuk Dr Ahmad Sabirin Arshad on July 31. He said the three institutes involved are Institute of Medical Research (IMR), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Veterinary Research Institute in Ipoh, Perak, and that Sirim will help carry out testing for the vaccine produced.

Germany, France and Israel will go ahead with plans to administer Covid-19 vaccine boosters, disregarding an appeal by the World Health Organization to hold off on administering a third dose until more people are vaccinated around the world.

Last Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China will strive to provide two billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine to other countries this year, state broadcaster CCTV reported. In his written message to the first meeting of the International Forum on Covid-19 Vaccine Cooperation, Xi also said China will donate US$100 million to the World Health Organization-backed Covax global vaccine distribution scheme, added CCTV.

South Korea plans to invest KRW2.2 trillion to become one of the world’s five largest Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing bases by 2025, its President Moon Jae-in said last Thursday.

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