Page 114 - INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH ANNUAL REPORT 2020

98 IMR Annual Report 2020

IMR COVID-19 volunteer work

IMR staff also volunteered
for COVID-19 screening, data
entry and reporting of results
duties

COVID-19 Vaccine Development

IMR, in collaboration with the Malaysian Vaccines and Pharmaceutical Sdn. Bhd. (MVP) and the
Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Centre (TIDREC) at University of Malaya, tested
Activities & Events existing potential vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus from March 2020. Two candidate vaccines
used in the research were the Infectious Bronchitis virus (IBV) and avian coronavirus vaccines. This
collaborative work is based on research previously conducted by scientists from other countries who
reported that the IBV in poultry has a high genetic similarity to the human coronavirus.

COVID-19 vaccine development
at Biological Safety Level 3 (BSL3)
laboratory