MALAYSIANS, including several politicians have recently taken to attacking the government’s vaccine procurement strategy with accusations ranging from overpaying to misleading the public on how much will be spent on these life-saving therapies.
This came after Belgium’s Budget State Secretary Eva De Bleeker recently shared the lists of vaccine prices for the European Union (EU) as a bloc that encompasses a population of 447 million which is larger than the entire US population.
The EU pricing is also for a single dose. As reported, Belgium will purchase more than 33 million doses for a total of €279 mil euro (RM1.38 bil) for their population of 12 million. With the exception of the Johnson & Johnson candidate, the vaccines require two doses to be effective.
Volume and the country’s economic status have an impact on pricing. The EU pricing also does not include vaccine logistical costs to vaccination sites.
A large amount of protest and deliberate misinformation are also as a result of middle men or tender agents being excluded from these vaccine deals.
“While much of the confusion is due to the complexity of pharmaceutical procurement, a large portion of the attacks have been based on misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories which continue to persist in the face of facts,” Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy CEO Azrul Mohd Khalib pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Government has stated that it has allocated RM3 bil for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines which is expected to cover at least 70% of the population. It has not and is not expected to pay RM3 bil for just 10 million vaccine doses.
Based on publicly available information, 12.8 million doses (enough for 6.4 million people) of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be procured. Another 6.4 million doses each from the COVAX initiative and AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines – 12.8 million doses when combined – will protect 20% of the population.
Thus, around 40% of the Malaysian population can expect to be vaccinated in 2021 with these three vaccines.
The Galen Centre estimates that the Pfizer vaccine at US$19.50 per dose (publicly known pricing) would cost around US$249.6 mil (around RM1 bil).
However, Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin, stated in Parliament that the Government was able to secure the price of a single dose to be less than RM100 which includes the logistical costs up to the vaccination sites that will be handled by Pfizer.
“This would mean that Malaysia is probably paying around RM1.2 bil for that vaccine. For COVAX, we estimate that it would cost RM275 mil (RM86/person) and for AstraZeneca: RM89.6 mil (RM28/person),” projected Azrul.
The Galen Centre estimates that the Pfizer vaccine at US$19.50 per dose (publicly known pricing) would cost around US$249.6 mil (around RM1 bil).
This is what happens when the government deals directly with the supplier and no middle men such as tender agents are involved. A lot of public money is saved, the cost involved is reduced significantly.
“Close scrutiny is necessary when public funds are concerned. However, opportunists including anti-vaxxers in Malaysia, have jumped on the vaccine issue and politicised it, especially in the wake of the revelation of vaccine prices by the Belgium minister,” Azrul cautioned.
The Galen Centre is concerned that such actions both undermine and erode public confidence in ongoing efforts to secure safe and effective vaccines to protect the Malaysian population.
“Despite a late start compared to some of our neighbours, Malaysia will end the year with a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel as three vaccines are poised for roll-out throughout 2021,” Azrul added – Dec 22, 2020
