Gov’t: AstraZeneca Vaccine to Arrive in Q1
Source: covid19.go.id
The Indonesian Government announced that it will receive the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine obtained through the Gavi COVAX Facility multilateral cooperation mechanism in Q1 of 2021.
On Saturday (30/1), Indonesia received Gavi’s confirmation on the initial vaccine allocation. Based on the letter, in the initial stage, Indonesia will receive 13.7-23.1 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine which will be sent in two batches (25-35 percent for Q1 and 65-75 percent for Q2).
The vaccine distribution will start after the AstraZeneca vaccine is granted WHO’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL) and validated by the Independent Allocation Validation Group (IAVG). It will also depend on the availability of supplies of the manufacturer.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi has also communicated with Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin on several matters related to the preparation of vaccine delivery.
The AstraZeneca vaccine must also obtain the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) before it can be used in Indonesia.
“This is the success of our diplomacy, through COVAX we get access to free vaccines and in a short time, it will certainly complement the types of vaccines currently available,” Government Spokesperson for COVID-19 Vaccination Siti Nadia Tarmidzi said on Wednesday (02/02).
The AstraZeneca vaccine, Nadia said, can be used to vaccinate people aged 60 years and over. As we are all aware, this group has the highest mortality rate.
For the record, the vaccine procurement through the Gavi mechanism is free in order to provide equal access for poor and developing countries to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine will complement the needs of the COVID-19 vaccination program for around 181.5 million Indonesians who are deemed eligible for this program.
Indonesia has secured commitments and options to bring in 663 million doses of vaccine from various sources, such as AstraZeneca from the UK, Sinovac from China, Novavax from the United States and Canada, and Pfizer from the United States. (PR of Ministry of Foreign Affairs/PR of Ministry of Health/UN) (FI/MMB)
