EFFORTS are ongoing to develop a Malaysian-made Covid-19 vaccine.
Researchers are hoping it will be effective against the new variants of the coronavirus, including the Delta strain, known to be more resistant and transmissible.
“All variants of concern including the Delta, Alpha and Beta variants, are taken into consideration in designing the vaccines,” says one of the head researchers in the initiative, Institute for Medical Research (IMR) director Dr Tahir Aris.
Currently, IMR under the Health Ministry is taking the lead in this ambitious project, together with other collaborators.
Two types of vaccines are being developed now.
The first involves the mRNA (messenger RNA) method – solely an IMR initiative for now.