'Penang govt was duped' - The Star Online

PETALING JAYA: The alleged offer to donate two million doses of CoronaVac vaccine to the Penang state government is bogus, says Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

“I wish the Penang state government had done due diligence over the letter.

“If there is any party which wants to acquire vaccines, I welcome them, but vaccines are a controlled item, (it’s) not like buying T-shirts on Shopee, ” added Khairy, who is also the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister.

He was responding to accusations levelled against him by Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, with both claiming that the Federal Government was blocking Penang from procuring the vaccine, popularly referred to as the Sinovac vaccine, made by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd.

Chow claimed in a press conference on Tuesday that the Health Ministry had declined to approve Penang’s request for a private company to sponsor two million vaccine doses from China.

Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, then entered the fray by urging Chow to just accept the vaccines on offer first, even without the Federal Government’s approval, and deal with the consequences later.

In a media conference yesterday, Khairy said the duo made the claim based on a letter from one “Yong Chee Kong”, who in the letter said he is a Malaysian working at Hong Kong-based Xintai Development Enterprise Ltd.

“Yong” claimed that he had been in touch with Sinovac Biotech and he was willing to pay a US$2mil deposit (to procure the vaccine).

Khairy said the letter was dated Feb 1 but as CoronaVac had not yet gotten approval from the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) then, the request was rejected by the Health Ministry on March 12.

Khairy said Chow had raised the matter again several days ago.

“I told him that if the offer is still valid, I can help the Penang state government with the approval to obtain the vaccines. I have informed Chow and (former Penang chief minister) Lim about this.

“However, after the press conference (by Chow and Lim), I decided to investigate the ‘offer’, ” he said.

“This is about buying vaccines that need the approval of NPRA. Do not politicise the national immunisation programme with this rubbish. This is bogus, but I am willing to be proven wrong.

“If the Penang government can prove that this offer from this ‘Yong Chee Kong’ is genuine, I will give immediate approval for these vaccines to be brought in, ” he added.

Khairy said he had always maintained a close working relationship with all state governments, regardless of their political inclinations.

“I have always given my full and best cooperation to all state governments, including those of Selangor, Sabah, Penang, Negri Sembilan and Sarawak.

“I have always adopted a very open attitude to assist if they want to buy vaccines, ” said Khairy.

He added that at all times, the Federal Government’s need to secure vaccines must come first.

“If there are requests from state governments and such, I will support them but they must understand that their request will only be fulfilled after the vaccines necessary for Federal Government’s immunisation programme have been fully secured, ” Khairy said.

“One must remember that vaccines are a controlled item and it is not easy to be bought and brought into the country as everything must be documented, ” he added, saying that in the case of “Yong”, there was no documentation trail.

“(Opposition Leader Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim accused me of blocking state governments and private foundations from acquiring their own vaccines.

“As I have been put in charge of acquiring vaccines for Malaysia, I know where supplies are coming from.

“When there are (private) offers such as these, I can find out with the relevant companies if this is indeed genuine, ” Khairy said.

He added that upon checking with Sinovac Biotech, it was found that there was no application made to the vaccine producer about such a donation while Sinovac Biotech’s international sales head Coco Chang confirmed that she had not been contacted by “Yong” on the matter.

In the letter produced by the Penang state government, “Yong” claimed he had been in touch with Chang.

Khairy also said that a search for Xintai Development Enterprise yielded no results, adding that a staff member had alerted him of a similar letter by “Yong” had been delivered to him on Feb 9 also offering to donate two million vaccine doses to Sabah.

“When we received the letter on Feb 9, my staff member checked with Sinovac. There was no such thing.

“We checked company records in Hong Kong, this company doesn’t exist. No one knows who Yong Chee Kong is, ” he said, adding that while he was uncertain over the reason for this highly questionable act, a police report would be lodged by the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force.

“I completely understand there is this tremendous desire to be vaccinated as quickly as possible.

“But I would like to urge people not to politicise this vaccination issue. We were bashed for 24 hours due to this fraudulent claim. I feel extremely disappointed, ” he said.