The Ministry of Health (MOH) will lodge a police report against private medical doctor Dr Musa Mohd Nordin over his allegations of bribery in the procurement of Covid-19 vaccine produced by ModernaTX Inc.
In a statement, the ministry said Musa’s claims raised in an interview with Astro Awani are baseless.
“In particular, Dr Musa claimed that the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) had not procured the Moderna vaccine, and the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Division (NPRA) still did not register the vaccine because it was not given enough kickbacks,” it said.
“For the record, a discussion of the procurement of the Moderna type of vaccine was held by MOH with ModernaTX Inc at the end of 2020.
“On December 6, ModernaTX Inc made an official offer, of which it will deliver the vaccine for 10% of the population during the third and fourth quarter of 2021.”
The ministry said the offer was taken up but JKJAV has also decided that since the vaccine delivery is later in the year, it will go ahead with other manufacturers and vaccines in order to speed up the vaccination programme.
It said currently, NPRA is evaluating ModernaTX’s vaccine registration for approval, which it submitted last month.
“Since the government already has a sufficient portfolio and enough doses for the population, it will decide on the need for the vaccine once approved by NPRA, including its use as a booster shot or as heterology,” it added.
On Tuesday, a news portal quoted Musa as saying in an interview that “not enough kickbacks” were behind NPRA’s non-approval of the Moderna vaccine.
Prior to this, he had been critical of the government’s handling of the pandemic. – TMI