16 Million Doses of Covid-19 Bulk Vaccine from China’s Sinovac Arrive in Indonesia

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia received 16 million doses of Covid-19 bulk vaccine from China’s Sinovac Thursday, marking the seventh shipment of vaccine since the first batch arrived on December 6, 2020.

Besides Sinovac Biotech Ltd, Indonesia also received the Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca under the COVAX program, which is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and GAVI vaccine alliance to provide vaccines to poor and middle-income countries earlier this month.

“Today, we managed to bring in the seventh shipment of the vaccine totaling 16 million doses of Covid-19 bulk vaccine,” said Deputy Health Minister Dante Harbuwono at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport near Jakarta on Thursday, March 25.

Also read: Indonesia Receives 1 Million Doses of Astrazeneca’s Covid-19 Vaccine

With this latest shipment, Dante said, Indonesia had received a total of 53.5 million doses of bulk vaccine. The newly-arrived bulk vaccine will be brought to state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma for further process of production.

“During the process, the vaccine will be evaluated in terms of quality by the BPOM [the Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency] before it will be distributed to the public,” he said.

He said that the availability of vaccines is vital in the mass vaccination program. The sooner the government gets the vaccination done, the better the herding community could be achieved, he said.

To date, six million people have been vaccinated. Of this number, three million people have been given a second dose. Based on the government's evaluation, the vaccination program has shown positive developments such as reducing the transmission of the coronavirus among health workers and reducing active cases of Covid-19.

Also read: Indonesia to Get 140 Million Doses of Sinovac Covid-19 Bulk Vaccine Soon

Elsewhere, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the arrival of the vaccine will boost confidence for the economic recovery and make people return to their activities.

“This brings additional confidence as vaccination programs have been done in various regions across Indonesia,” Sri Mulyani said on Thursday, March 25.

However, she said, Indonesia must remain vigilant even though the signs of economic recovery are beginning to appear.

“The momentum has accelerated, and the president [Joko Widodo] already visited various parts of the country to activate the vaccination program. However, we all have to remain vigilant and follow the health protocols,” she said.

(Writers: Fitria Chusna Farisa, Fika Nurul Ulya | Editors: Icha Rastika, Ambaranie Nadia Kemala Movanita )

Sources: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/03/25/12521641/16-juta-dosis-bahan-baku-vaksin-covid-19-sinovac-tiba-di-indonesia?page=all#page2.

https://money.kompas.com/read/2021/03/25/141309926/16-juta-dosis-vaksin-sinovac-datang-lagi-sri-mulyani-menambah-confidence?page=all#page2.