The government has no plans to buy vaccines from producers other than Sinovac for the subsidized or independent vaccination program.
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KOMPAS TEAM
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SEKRETARIAT PRESIDEN
Deputy Minister of State-Owned Enterprises who is also Chairman of the National Economic Recovery Task Force Budi Gunadi Sadikin in a virtual press statement from the Presidential Office, Jakarta, Wednesday (21/10/2020).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The government has no plans to buy vaccines from producers other than Sinovac for the subsidized or independent vaccination program. In the initial stage, the government will receive 3 million doses of vaccines made by Sinovac and 36 million doses of vaccines from Sinovac that will be processed by state-owned pharmaceutical firm PT Bio Farma.
Deputy Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Tuesday (8/12/2020) that the vaccines Bio Farma will produce come from the vaccine raw materials that the government purchased from Sinovac. The raw materials for 45 million doses of the vaccines will arrive in Indonesia until January 2021.
In December 2020, 15 million doses of vaccines will arrive and be processed by Bio Farma into 12 million doses of vaccines ready for distribution in January 2021. Furthermore, the remaining 30 million doses of vaccine raw materials will be processed into 24 million doses of vaccines to be distributed in February 2021.
"Vaccination begins after an in-depth and scientific study by the Food and Drug Administration," Budi said in a virtual press conference in Jakarta.
So far, the government has no plans to buy vaccines from other manufacturers. Corporate Secretary of PT Bio Farma Bambang Heriyanto, who is also a spokesman for Covid-19 vaccination, said that the government still relies on the Sinovac vaccines for subsidized and independent (paid) vaccination programs.
BPMI SEKRETARIAT PRESIDEN
The vaccine made by Sinovac is placed in a room with a temperature of 2-8 degrees Celsius at PT Bio Farma, Bandung.
Vaccination from the government targets 32 million people who need 73.96 million doses of vaccine. Meanwhile, independent vaccination is sold for 75 million people who need 172.6 million doses. "The two programs use Sinovac. There are no other procurement plans yet,” he said.
A total of 1.2 million doses of Sinovac vaccines that have just arrived will be distributed to seven provinces in Java and Bali. The remaining 1.8 million doses arrived in December and will be distributed to 27 provinces outside Java and Bali. "The distribution is determined by the government\'s priority targets," said Bambang.
Health Minister Decree No. HK.01.07/Menkes/9860/2020 concerning the Determination of Types of Vaccines for the Implementation of Covid-19 Vaccination states that six types of vaccines will be used in Indonesia. Apart from Sinovac Biotech (China), there are also vaccines from AstraZeneca (UK), Sinopharm (China), Moderna (US), Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech (US), and Bio Farma (Indonesia).
President Director of PT Bio Farma Honesti Basyir said that the Sinovac vaccine was chosen based on safety, speed, and independence factors. "The Sinovac vaccine candidate is one of 10 candidates most rapidly entering phase three clinical trials. The vaccine production method uses an inactivated platform or the virus is weakened. It is mastered by Bio Farma," he said.
The distribution is determined by the government\'s priority targets
INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE / AFP
This handout photo taken on December 6, 2020 and released by the Indonesian Presidential Palace shows workers unloading the 1.2 million dosage of covid-19 vaccine made by Sinovac, upon its arrival from Beijing at the Jakarta International Airport in Tangerang.
Price standard
The standard of the independent vaccination rates is being calculated. SOE Minister Erick Thohir said the price of independent vaccines was adjusted to the type of brand, given the varying production costs and procurement values. "Prices are according to the brand," said Erick.
Indonesia also confirmed its participation in GAVI, an international vaccine alliance under the coordination of the World Health Organization (WHO). "The government opens access for 20 percent of Indonesia\'s population target to get vaccines at a good price," said Budi Gunadi, who is also the head of the National Economic Recovery Task Force.
Meanwhile, Britain became the first Western country to carry out a Covid-19 vaccination with emergency use authorization. Vaccination in Indonesia awaits the report on the phase three of the Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials.
According to the head of the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology at the Research and Technology Ministry, Amin Soebandrio, the Sinovac vaccine has not been tested for its efficacy even though it is declared safe according to the results of phase one and two clinical trials in China. "Ideally, the efficacy of the vaccine is 90 percent and above even though WHO accepts 50 percent and above," he said.
However, the arrival of the Covid-19 Sinovac vaccines in Indonesia adds to the optimism of residents to get out of the pandemic, as expressed by Didit, 29, a resident of Semarang, Central Java. While waiting for the results of clinical trials of the vaccines, health protocols remain mandatory.
Ideally, the efficacy of the vaccine is 90 percent and above even though WHO accepts 50 percent and abov
Spokesperson for the Covid-19 Mitigating Task Force Wiku Bakti Bawono Adisasmito revealed that the number of specimen examinations related to Covid-19 increased to 98.35 percent of the WHO target. This was followed by an increase in Covid-19 cases. "This means that the level of transmission is getting out of control," said Wiku. According to the Health Ministry, Covid-19 cases this week rose 13.5 percent from the previous week. From the 36,599 cases in the last week of November, the number had risen to 41,536 in early December. ( AIK/AGE/ TAM/ NTA/ CAS/ FRD).
