Malaysia has bought 12.8 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, but the country has not figured out if the drug can be used on its population.
This was announced by Malaysia's health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah on Dec. 21, regarding the jointly developed vaccine by Pfizer and German biotechnology firm BioNTech.
News of Malaysia spending the next four months looking into the Covid-19 vaccine's efficacy was reported by the country's media.
The 12.8 million doses of the vaccine is expected to cover 6.4 million people, or about 20 per cent of Malaysia’s population.
Will take four months to study data
Noor Hisham said during the ministry’s Covid-19 press briefing on Monday that it will take up to four months for the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) in Malaysia to evaluate the clinical trial data provided by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer on the Covid-19 vaccine it has developed.
Above is from mothership.sg.
Some may be surprised that Malaysia has committed so much money on vaccines that they still have doubts in using and would need 4 months to study and figure out if the vaccines are safe or not. On the other hand there are many countries that would accept the words of the manufacturers and happily go ahead to administer the vaccines on their people, ablbeit studying the manufacturers' reports.
In Malaysia's case, some may think it is silly to buy but not sure if it is safe. But in a situation like this, it is like the mad queues for iphones, people rushing to buy for fear of nothing getting it, it is understandable that Malaysia would not want to miss the boat and not having the vaccines for its people.
The other approach is like throwing all caution to the winds, blindly accepting the words of the manufacturers, can also be seen as fools rush in when angels fear to tread, not taking any precaution that could turn out deadly, putting their citizens to great risk and harm, basing on trust that the manufacturers are telling the truth and not hiding anything harmful.
At the moment the western vaccines are still very new and untested other than the flimsy trials on a small group of people done by the manufacturers. And the manufacturers too are guarded and protecting themselves by insisting on waiver of liabilities. Then they have been reports, not confirmed, nor reported in main media, only in a few media, of adverse reactions on the recipients.
The untested western vaccines could be the saviours needed in this pandemic. But they could turn out bad and multiply the problem with more serious new problems. It is still too early to tell and it is better to err on the side of caution. The manufacturers and western countries, particularly US and UK that are desperate for a miracle cure given the widespread infections and death in their countries would want to take a gamble. They need to be seen to be doing something than to sit and wait for a cure. Countries that are not in the same desperate situation may want to take a step back and let the US and UK make guinea pigs of their people, test out the vaccines in large numbers for a while to see how they work out.
If the situation does not require desperate do or die decisions, why not hold back than to rush in without much certainty that the vaccines are safe? Waiting for a while longer would do not much harm and would be prudent to do so if they can afford to do so.
What do you think? Is this the time to be gullible and be lind believers of the manufacturers?
The big pharmaceutical companies thrive on panicky people, together with corrupted or idiotic leaders who lack self-confidence, or who have recently lost their reputation and lost trust from their countrymen.
ReplyDeleteThese big pharmas are like vultures waiting for people to die in order to reap profits - huge profits.
And politicians with power, especially in the US where lobbying is lawful, are in cahoots with these big pharmas who donate hundreds of millions to their political campaigns.
So, how not to approve the vaccines in double quick time?
Moreover, Trump has been very desperate for a vaccine to help him recover from his badly handle Covid-19 iissue.
There were news, true or not, that some rich countries are thought to be hoarding the vaccines, so there is indeed a rush by other countries to commit, in order not to be left high and dry. On the other hand, that hoarding claim could be a sales tactic to get countries to ink contracts early, hence Malaysia could be such a case. It is the same as the rush for groceries in Red Dot at one time, is it not?
ReplyDeleteIt appears that another new variant has emerged in South Africa, so it looks like the virus is mutating faster than the vaccine roll out. It is still not certain that present vaccines will be effective against the new virus entrant. If not, God knows how many more different jabs are needed for each variant.
Well, as I said earlier, this is an opportunity for big Pharmas to keep laughing their way to the bank. And the earlier roll out, even despite claiming to be for emergency use only and without liability, is a step in this direction. Every poodle seems to have faith in their master's proclamation that everything is going according to plan and the vaccine they approved is their savior.
The hypocritical Americans never play by the rule of International Law. They violated and broke every International Law, not signatory to many International Laws but demanded others to follow these Laws.
ReplyDeleteThey are above the Laws! They are the outlaws!
Trump must be believing himself to be God. Believe in him and you will be saved.
ReplyDeleteNext he will probably pardon himself. This is even worse than own self pay own self, or own self check own self! But it is Democracy at work in the land of the 'Champion of Democracy'. It should be practiced in all the democratic countries of the world! Putin, Xi and Kim must be laughing their best laughter.
During the next three weeks Trump is making full use of his powers to crash and burn. He is now saying that the US$900 billion COVID19 relief is too little and should be much much more. More for his cronies and his own pocket I would say, in his last big hit before it all ends.
You see, this is going to make the deficit a historical milestone and create problems for Biden for sure. And it may signal the end of the US$ hegemony.
They will print money happily to bankrupt themselves.
ReplyDelete$900 billion not enough, print another trillion. Not enough, print more.
ReplyDeleteSome Americans are suggesting that he should be arrested before he does more harm to the country.
ReplyDeleteNot to worry, no one would dare to arrest the messenger of God.
And they keep on buying the USA debts because of oil being tied to US$ hegemony. This is their debt trap that the world has fallen into. Even China cannot free itself because they need to buy oil from the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteAnd the USA accused China of setting debt traps by funding infrastructure developments in Africa, South Asia and South America.
The Americans thought they could hold the world to ransom because of petrol money.
ReplyDeleteInstead they have set their own debt trap to the rest of world. They owe the rest of the world enough money they could never hope to repay except to print and print more paper money and turning the American dollar into banana currency.
Will Trump remain in the USA? Maybe he will run to Russia perhaps! Already, some of the White House rats are preparing to leave the country after Trump's pardon. Probably Biden will pardon Trump himself. Then Biden will replenish the swamp with his own crocodiles. The Pfizer vaccine is said to make humans turn into crocodiles according to Trump's clone in Brazil.
ReplyDeleteOne evil pardoning another evil is all in the day's work of the most democratic country in the world. They laugh at the Africans and North Koreans doing such stuff. They never look at themselves in the mirror.
I would rather wait as sg not so desperate situation now
ReplyDeleteEvery country should test the vaccine first before rolling out for anyone to use. This should be the basic principle of scientific approach. Whether it is trustworthy or not, reliable or not. You must not leave it to chance.
ReplyDeleteMalaysia is right to wait and do some study and tests on the vaccine first in order to have first-hand knowledge of the vaccine's efficacy and side effects.
The way Singapore is doing is like an ostrich approach, not scientific approach. Buy from suppliers and without waiting for a due diligence study first, immediately roll it out to the old folks as guinea-pigs and to endanger the frontline medical personnel.
The US showing Joe Biden having jab on video can be a set up to fool the public. The jab can contain any substance, not necessarily the experimental vaccine.
Humans are easily fooled by visual effects. Political hacks are good at fooling the public. The public is actually very gullible and easily fooled, especially the daft Sinkies.