The Malaysian Insight

MALAYSIA’S mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 is currently at cloning stage, said Health Minister Dr Adham Baba.

He said the vaccine developed by the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) will next undergo clinical trials.

Adham announced on June 13 that Malaysia was in the midst of developing two types of Covid-19 vaccine – mRNA and inactivated.

Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines are the only mRNA-type jabs approved for use by the World Health Organization.

Pfizer’s is the only mRNA vaccine with conditional approval for use in Malaysia.

He said the cloning stage involves the original Covid-19 virus and other variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Adham said once the vaccine is developed, it will have to undergo pre-clinical trials on animals and subsequently clinical trials on humans, before it can be approved and manufactured.

“We are in the development process where we are working to conduct trials on its efficacy on small and big animals. For trials on humans, it may take a few months,” he said in a weekly joint press conference with Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

“We were informed by IMR that the development of the mRNA vaccine started in November 2019.

“This is a collaboration between IMR and UPM (Universiti Putra Malaysia),” he added.

He said the research is being funded by the Health Ministry and Mosti. – June 21, 2021.