Malaysia aims to produce first locally made human vaccine by 2028

KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 — Malaysia is reprotedly aiming to produce its first locally manufactured human vaccine as early as 2028, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Chang Lih Kang reportedly said.

The Star reported Chang as saying the vaccine would be a 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, or PCV13, produced by Pharmaniaga Bhd through a technology transfer arrangement with a Chinese company.

The vaccine would protect against 13 types of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria, which can cause illnesses including pneumonia and meningitis.

Chang reportedly said that producing vaccines locally would lessen Malaysia’s reliance on overseas supplies and improve its ability to respond to future public health crises.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccine was something very important. But we didn’t have the capability to develop human vaccine, so we had to rely on other countries,” he was quoted as saying.

“When you rely on other countries, they will decide when to deliver the vaccine to us and they will decide what price they want to sell to us. So it becomes an issue, especially when a crisis happens,” he added.

Malaysia currently imports all its vaccines from countries including the United States, France, Belgium, Japan, South Korea, India, Thailand and Indonesia, according to the report.

Chang said Malaysia had initially targeted developing the capability to produce human vaccines by 2030, but believed this could be achieved two years earlier.

He added that Malaysia was working on another vaccine-related development involving a hexavalent vaccine for children.