PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian-made Covid-19 vaccine is now at the cloning stage, says Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.
He said the development of the vaccine began in November last year by the Institute of Medical Research and Universiti Putra Malaysia.
The research is being financed by the Health Ministry as well as the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry.
“The vaccine is currently at the cloning stage involving the original virus and different variants of Sars-CoV 2.
“Once this stage is over, we will carry out a study on the vaccine’s effectiveness with clinical trials to be done on large and small animals as well as humans,” he said on Monday (June 21).
Dr Adham said the clinical trials must be done before the vaccine can be registered and then manufactured,” he said.
On June 13, the minister had posted on his Facebook page that Malaysia is developing two Covid-19 vaccines through a group of IMR researchers.
The vaccines being developed are the mRNA vaccine and inactivated vaccine in an effort to boost the country’s vaccine development capacity and preparedness in facing future pandemics.
