Gov’t Secures 100 Million Doses of Novavax, AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccines
Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi
The Indonesian Government has secured 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from US-based vaccine manufacturer Novavax and British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
“From the beginning, we’ve continued to establish communication to secure (COVID-19 vaccine) supplies from various other sources,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno LP Marsudi said in a press statement on the arrival of 1.8 million doses of Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine, at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang, Banten, Thursday (31/12).
Apart from the two producers, the Foreign Minister added, continuous talks were also held with the producer of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from the US and Germany.
The Government also pursued COVID-19 vaccines through multilateral cooperation with GAVI (Global Alliance Vaccines and Immunization) through COVAX which will provide vaccines for free. COVAX is initiated by GAVI and is supported by WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
The Foreign Minister stated that Indonesia has sent two application documents, namely a Vaccine Request and a Technical Assistant Form to COVAX in November and December last year.
“Furthermore, through diplomacy, we’ll also continue to oversee the submission of other documents, namely Vaccine Request Form Part B on indemnification which we plan to submit on 8 January 2021 and also Cold Chain Equipment (CCE) Support Request related to the technical capacity of the vaccine cooling system at the first quarter of this year,” she said.
Ministry of Health and Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as other parties, she added, will continue to join hands to ensure that all vaccine logistics infrastructure in the country matches the needs of the type of vaccine ordered from the multilateral route.
The AstraZeneca vaccine, the Minister continued, has obtained an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the UK Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
“This’s certainly good news for all of us because MHRA is one of the six stringent regulatory authorities that have a reliance mechanism with the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM),” the Minister said.
Through this reliance mechanism, she added, the EUA issuance process for AstraZeneca vaccines in Indonesia will be easier because EUA in the UK can be used as the basis and review of the issuance of EUA in Indonesia.
Quoting a statement from Head of BPOM, the Foreign Minister said that coordinated efforts with all related parties and institutions both at home and abroad were continuously made to speed up the EUA process for the COVID-19 vaccine in the country.
“Of course, this process will never compromise the safety, effectiveness, and quality aspects of the vaccine,” she said.
The Minister also invited the people to remain disciplined in implementing health protocols. (DND/FID/UN) (FI/MUR)
