15 Million Sinovac’s COVID-19 Vaccine Raw Materials to Arrive in Indonesia, Health Minister Says

The Arrival of COVID-19 Vaccine Produced by Sinovac in Indonesia (Photo by: Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau/Muchlis Jr)

Indonesia, on Tuesday (12/1), will receive a total of 15 million doses of Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine raw materials for state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma to process further, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin has said.

“As many as 15 million vaccine raw materials from Sinovac will arrive, insyaAllah, tomorrow. Bio Farma is expected to process the vaccines in a period of one month so that we can have 12 million doses of vaccines,” the Minister said after attending a Limited Meeting, at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, Monday (11/1).

Budi went on to say that the Government will also receive a supply of COVID-19 vaccines through multilateral cooperation with GAVI, the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization (GAVI).

“According to Minister of Foreign Affairs, our multilateral cooperation with GAVI will also likely lead to good decisions. A total of 54 to 108 million doses of free vaccines will be provided by GAVI,” he said.

The vaccines, he added, are expected to arrive in Indonesia sooner around the end of February or early March. The options of the vaccines provided include the ones from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Novavax, which have obtained approval from their countries.

“We are currently discussing the type of vaccines we will take with the Coordinating Minister since all of the available vaccines can be given to people aged 60,” Budi said.

On that occasion, the Minister also said that the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines requires a logistics line with a cold chain system that has its own complexity. Therefore, he urged all stakeholders to cooperate in the distribution process.

“I need assistance from central and regional governments, as well as the private sector to work hand in hand to assist us in distributing 426 million doses of vaccines throughout the country,” he said. (FID/UN) (RIF/LW)