KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — A roadmap serving as a blueprint for the National Vaccine Development will be created to ensure the country’s safety and self-reliance and safety concerning vaccines.
Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin said the roadmap was critical for Malaysia following the global Covid-19 pandemic where a vaccine for the disease has yet to be found.
He said his ministry, together with the Health Ministry, would chair the committee to monitor the formation of the roadmap.
“The roadmap will be prepared in the next six months and we will announce how far away we are.
“The pandemic has revealed that this is a very important area for Malaysia to have this capacity,” he told reporters at a media conference in Parliament here after attending the second National Science Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Khairy said that Malaysia currently only has the capacity to develop vaccines for animals, and not for humans like other countries such as Thailand and Indonesia.
“So the prime minister stressed on the importance to be a human vaccine-manufacturing country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Khairy said the meeting agreed to approve the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy for the year 2021-2030, adding that it would be tabled at the Cabinet meeting to replace existing policy which ends this year.
He added that the National Science, Technology and Innovation Act would be formulated and scheduled to be tabled in Dewan Rakyat next year.
— Bernama
