KUALA LUMPUR – China has agreed to list Malaysia as a priority recipient of the China-produced COVID-19 vaccine once it successfully developed, said Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.
The Foreign Minister announced this in a joint news conference after the bilateral meeting with his visiting Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, here, Tuesday.
“We welcomed and appreciated China’s commitment in providing Malaysia with Chinese-produced COVID-19 vaccines, once successfully developed and listing Malaysia as a priority recipient.
“We also welcomed China’s agreement to encourage Chinese enterprises to establish all-round cooperation with Malaysian partners in vaccine research and development, and distribution,” he said.
Elaborating further, Hishammuddin said Malaysia is also monitoring closely the development of the vaccine, adding that getting the vaccine is a matter of high priority of the government.
“If we want to find a way forward in dealing with COVID-19 there are only two ways into it, one is to prevent by vaccination, the other is to cure by medication,” he added.
He said China has announced the vaccine is now being developed in the country and could be ready for use by the general public as early by November.
“The visit (by Wang Yi) to Kuala Lumpur is the new platform for us to make sure that we are not left behind in vaccine cooperation and coordination,” he said.
“As the foreign ministry, we must continue to negotiate and assure (that) Malaysia establishes diplomatic agreement with our counterparts to make sure that when we make the decisions based on the trials and when it’s made public, Malaysia will not be left behind,” Hishammuddin said.
— BERNAMA
