KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) today denied issuing an authorisation letter for the distribution of vaccines, as claimed in an article entitled ‘Mestron edar vaksin COVID-19 dari China’ (Mestron to distribute COVID-19 vaccine from China), dated Jan 29.
MOH also stressed that it has never issued any approval or authorisation letter to the private sector or other parties to purchase or distribute the COVID-19 vaccine in Malaysia.
The fake news notification was issued by the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia (KKMM) Quick Response Team at 6.30 pm today.
Thus far, only the MOH has been given the authority to manage access and purchase the COVID-19 vaccine, the statement said.
It is in line with the MOH’s duty to enforce medical affairs through his agency, namely, the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Division (NPRA) and Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Section.