KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Pharmaniaga Bhd has reiterated that its main business model is to focus on producing and distributing the Sinovac vaccine to the federal government in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.  

Chief executive officer Datuk Zulkarnain Md Eusope said this would ensure that the population in this country gets vaccinated and is able to achieve herd immunity.

“Our second business model is to provide vaccines to state governments and private companies as they cannot wait for the federal government’s vaccination programme and they need to ensure that their business goes on.

“The states that have expressed interest in buying the Sinovac vaccine from Pharmaniaga include Selangor, Pahang, Perak, Sarawak, Sabah, Johor and Negeri Sembilan,” he said in a virtual press conference today.

Zulkarnain said the total demand for the Sinovac vaccine from the seven states involved was five to six million doses, with Selangor having made the highest application at almost 2.5 million doses.

“We have various bookings in the country such as for state governments which the Special Committee on Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) has given permission to make early deliveries and to speed up the vaccination process, particularly in Selangor due to the high number of cases in the state.

“For other states, we have to wait as informed by the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin,” he said.

On July 16, Khairy said that Operation Surge Capacity would be implemented to ensure that all adults in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor get at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by August 1.

Meanwhile, Zulkarnain said all state governments wishing to purchase the Sinovac vaccine from Pharmaniaga have to comply with the ceiling price and sales guidelines set by JKJAV and the Ministry of Health which would be announced next week.

Besides providing vaccines in Malaysia, he said Pharmaniaga is also looking into the export market business model as it has been receiving calls and requests to supply vaccines to Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia and Thailand.

Zulkarnain explained that the countries are in dire need of vaccines as they could not get their orders on time or could not secure an adequate supply of vaccines.

“We (Pharmaniaga) are lucky because we planned ahead to make sure there are enough vaccines for the federal government, extra supplies for state governments and the private sector (at the time Sinovac was not yet approved by the World Health Organisation),” said Zulkarnain.

He also said that the pharmaceutical company is in the midst of discussions with Sinovac Biotech Ltd to supply and distribute the Sinovac vaccine to other countries.

“This is the strategy we are going forward with and of course, it will impact our revenue and profitability if we can sell the Sinovac vaccine to foreign countries.

“But the main thing now is to make sure that all Malaysians are vaccinated as the population is our highest priority,” Zulkarnain said. — Bernama