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5:29 PM MYT
PETALING JAYA: The non-disclosure agreement (NDA) clause between Malaysia and the manufacturers of the Covid-19 vaccine prevents Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin from releasing detailed information on negotiations over the vaccine, says Datuk Chong Sin Woon.
The MCA secretary-general said a similar situation befell Belgium, reportedly leaving the European Commission embarrassed over the vaccine price leak.
He said Khairy had also extended an invitation to DAP MP Lim Kit Siang to a briefing on the vaccine selection and distribution process.
“He has also offered to brief the PAC regarding the vaccine on condition that its members keep such information under wraps till the time is appropriate to release such details to the public, ” Chong said in a statement on Thursday (Dec 24).
pic) to task for practising selective criticism against alleged corrupt practices involving political rivals.
Its vice-president Baljit Singh said Kit Siang was quick to allege scandal of untold proportion over the Covid-19 vaccine procurement by the Perikatan Nasional government.
But Kit Siang chose to remain silent when his son Lim Guan Eng and daughter-in-law Betty Chew were charged with corruption in the court of law, he added.
Baljit said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had rubbished Kit Siang’s claim that Malaysia was paying 20 times more for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine compared to Belgium.
“But Kit Siang turned down Khairy’s invitation to meet up to explain the procurement process as he could not publicly disclose it due to non-disclosure agreement with the vaccine manufacturer, ” he said.
THE year 2020 is one that many would like to forget.
The coronavirus outbreak has upended lives in an unprecedented magnitude. Lives were lost and so did livelihoods as we grudgingly embrace new norms that only a year ago, would seem alien, if not absurd.
On the economic front, thousands of businesses have folded. Millions have lost their jobs, if not had their incomes slashed with little to no prospects of earning back a semblance of what they used to before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
Everyone wants this outbreak to end. And the only way it will is through the availability of the Covid-19 vaccine, because that’s when the coronavirus will be unable to wreak havoc on the body of its host, including causing death.
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DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng says the science minister’s explanation that Singapore could secure a Covid-19 vaccine before Malaysia because it has more money is unacceptable. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, December 24, 2020.
LIM Guan Eng today panned Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s explanation that Singapore was able to secure Covid-19 vaccines ahead of Malaysia due to its financial resources.
“DAP totally rejects the pathetic excuse that Malaysia does not have financial resources like Singapore’s to make early purchases of the vaccines,” Lim said in a statement today.
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