Indonesia Buys 100 Million Covid-19 Vaccines from AstraZeneca

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia continues to stockpile Covid-19 vaccines for 2021 onwards even after the government inked vaccine supply deals with pharmaceutical companies Cansino, G42/Sinopharm, and Sinovac.

Ministry of Health Director General for Disease Control and Prevention Achmad Yurianto announced that the government purchased 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Also read: Indonesia to Use Diplomacy to Obtain More Covid0-19 Vaccines

“[AstraZeneca] pledged to supply [Indonesia] with [Covid-19] vaccines by March 2021, following [Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and State Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir’s] visit to Switzerland and the United Kingdom,” Yurianto said in a press conference on October 19.

However, Indonesia is not solely dependent on the foreign Covid-19 vaccines, he added. “The Eijkman Institute is currently researching and developing a prototype vaccine by January or February 2021.” 

“Once that is completed, state-owned Bio Farma can further develop the prototype into the Merah Putih [Red and White] vaccine.”

Also read: Indonesian Foreign Minister Endorses Bio Farma Covid-19 Vaccine

“[The Merah Putih vaccine] is expected to complete the third stage of clinical trials by the end of 2021. Hopefully, [the Merah Putih vaccine] will fill Indonesia’s requirement for a homegrown vaccine by 2022, once it is cleared by the Indonesian Food and Drug Authority [BPOM].

The government hopes the Merah Putih vaccine can meet at least 50 percent of Indonesia’s requirement for a Covid-19 vaccine.

(Writers: Dian Erika Nugraheny, Haryanti Puspa Sari | Editors: Icha Rastika, Diamanty Meiliana)

Sources:

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/10/19/20331001/pemerintah-beli-100-juta-dosis-vaksin-covid-19-dari-astrazeneca-untuk-2021. 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/10/19/20250151/pengembangan-vaksin-merah-putih-tunggu-prototipe-dari-lembaga-eijkman.