At a press conference here today, Anwar said the health ministry will table a white paper on the procurement of the vaccines and the costs incurred.

He said parts of the procurement did not follow procedure.

“The white paper will be coordinated by the health minister (Dr Zaliha Mustafa),” he said.

“We decided on this white paper primarily because of the findings by the (health) ministry and law minister on the irregularities in transactions and approvals given not according to due process.

“And the procurement sum is questionable, in terms of the numbers and the costing. But she (Zaliha) will present this to Parliament at the coming meeting.”

Anwar said the ministers involved will have to answer over the matter.

In March 2022, the government said about RM4.72 billion had been spent on Covid-19 vaccines for Malaysia’s adult, teenage and children population, with orders placed for 88.1 million doses at the time.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigated the procurement of the vaccines in 2021, during which then vaccine coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin and then finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz were called to answer queries.

In its report, the PAC said Putrajaya paid vaccine manufacturer Sinovac Biotech Ltd a premium for certain doses to make up for delays caused by Pharmaniaga’s fill and finish process.

The government’s rollout used a combination of bottled vaccines bought directly from Sinovac, as well as vaccines that were delivered as raw materials to Pharmaniaga and vialed locally.

Putrajaya paid 16.78% to 18.12% higher than the price originally agreed to for 2.4 million doses delivered in May and July 2021 to make up for delays on Pharmaniaga’s end.

In the PAC report, Khairy said the Cabinet agreed to pay a premium to accelerate the delivery of the vaccines.

FMT has reached out to Khairy for comment.

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