Malaysia’s first Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial gets underway

KUCHING: Malaysia’s first Covid19 vaccine clinical trial which started nationwide yesterday including in Sarawak, will see half of the suitable candidates receiving the vaccine while the other half given a placebo.

However, the candidates will not be told which they will be receiving, said Sarawak Health Department director Dr Chin Zin Hing.

“We need to ask a lot of questions to check whether the candidates are suitable or not and finally to get their consent. They will be randomly assigned – half of them will receive the vaccine while the other half will receive the placebo.

“The placebo is not a vaccine. They don’t know which they will be receiving but we will monitor them along the way,” he told a press conference during the state’s daily Covid-19 update here yesterday.

He added that he does not have the details of the clinical trial as he is not directly involved in it.

The study is being conducted by Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) specialists with the cooperation of the clinical research centre (CRC), with SGH one of the nine centres involved nationwide.

Dr Chin reassured that the study is done according to protocol and that candidates will be supervised and monitored along the entire duration of the study, which could take a long time to complete.

“Anytime there is any issue, any problems, they can contact the investigators and they will do what is necessary,” he said.

Bernama reported Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba as saying yesterday that the trial held in nine hospitals involved some 3,000 volunteers who will receive the Phase 3 clinical trial of the vaccine developed and sponsored by China’s Institute of Medical Biology Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (IMBCAMS).

The eight other hospitals participating in the trial, which is coordinated by the Health Ministry’s Institute of Clinical Research (ICR), are Ampang Hospital, Penang Hospital, Seberang Jaya Hospital, Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital, Taiping Hospital, Sungai Buloh Hospital and Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital.

“It will involve 3,000 Malaysian volunteers over a period of 13 months. Phase 1 and 2 of the clinical trial involved subjects in China,” the minister said.

The trial will also be closely monitored by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) and the Medical Review and Ethics Committee of the Health Ministry, he added.