MALAYSIAN-MADE Covid-19 vaccines will cover the latest variant of concern (VOC), Omicron, experts told The Star Online.

As the coronavirus continues to mutate, the two vaccines that are being developed by Malaysians, will also cover other VOCs, they said. 

“We will also look into any new VOCs that may arise in future in our vaccine development,” said Institute for Medical Research (IMR) director Dr Tahir Aris in the report.  

According to Tahir, the first vaccine, which will be inactivated, is expected to undergo animal pre-clinical trials next month.

He said that the trials will be completed within a year.

After that, Tahir said researchers will move the clinical trials to humans in the second half of 2023.

The proposed inactivated vaccine is a joint research by the IMR, Universiti Putra Malaysia and the Veterinary Research Institute, which is under the Veterinary Services Department. 

Meanwhile, IMR is also developing a second vaccine using the messenger RNA (mRNA) method.

It will complete its proof of concept stage (evidence to show it is feasible) by the end of this year, while animal trials will be conducted next year.

After that, the human clinical trials humans for the mRNA vaccine are expected to be carried out in 2024.

“Both vaccines are currently being developed according to schedule,” Tahir said.

The clinical trials for both vaccines will be conducted by the Institute of Clinical Research at National Institute of Health and Clinical Research Malaysia.

Such clinical trials will also prove if the proposed vaccines are safe to be mixed, or given to recipients of shots from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac or other types of vaccines. – January 16, 2022.