The Indonesian government has purchased a total of 100 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca and Novavax. That gives people in Indonesia additional options for vaccination.
By
Ahmad Arif
·4 minutes read
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD/JOHN CAIRNS VIA AP, FILE
In this undated file photo issued by the University of Oxford on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, a researcher in a laboratory at the Jenner Institute in Oxford, England, works on the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. With major COVID-19 vaccines showing high levels of protection, British officials are cautiously — and they stress cautiously — optimistic that life may start returning to normal by early April. Even before regulators have approved a single vaccine, the U.K. and countries across Europe are moving quickly to organize the distribution and delivery systems needed to inoculate millions of citizens.
The Indonesian government has purchased a total of 100 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca and Novavax. That gives people in Indonesia additional options for vaccination.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Indonesian government has confirmed orders for Covid-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca and Novavax, totaling 50 million doses each. The vaccine orders from the United Kingdom and the United States complement the Sinovac vaccine made in China that has already been imported.
The signing of the vaccine purchase agreement took place at PT Biofarma, in the West Java city of Bandung on Wednesday (30/12/2020). The event was attended by, among other people, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin and head of the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), Penny K Lukito.
Today, or Thursday (31/12), there will be an additional 1.8 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from Sinovac (China). So, 3 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine are already available in Indonesia. Previously, Indonesia signed a vaccine purchase contract with Sinovac for 125 million doses and an option to add up to 100 million more. "We have also secured 50 million doses of AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines each," said Retno Marsudi.
WAK
Retno LP Marsudi
The government also oversees the procurement of vaccines through multilateral mechanisms. One of them is through collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Alliance Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). It is estimated that Indonesia will receive the vaccines though this channel for 3-20 percent of the population.
Budi Gunadi said Indonesia was racing against time to overcome the pandemic and that the planned vaccination drive was one of the efforts. "There has been significant progress, the signing of an agreement to purchase 50 million vaccine doses between AstraZeneca and Biofarma as well as the purchase of 50 million Novavax vaccines with Indofarma," he said.
The purchases of vaccines from US-based Novavax and UK-based AstraZeneca add variety to the available Covid-19 vaccines in Indonesia. Previously, Budi Gunadi said the Covid-19 vaccine from Novavax would arrive in Indonesia between June 2021 and March 2022, and the vaccine from AstraZeneca would arrive sometime from the second quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2022.
Vaccine delivery
The government has so far included six vaccines in its Covid-19 vaccination program, which are produced by PT Biofarma, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinovac Biotech. However, only the Sinovac vaccine is available now. The Covid-19 vaccine is used after obtaining a distribution permit or an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the BPOM.
Penny Lukito said that the aspects of quality, safety and efficacy were the main considerations in the issuance of the emergency use permit for the Covid-19 vaccine from Sinovac. "We inspected a manufacturing facility in Beijing; the results were good. We also granted a permit for good drug manufacturing at Bio-Farma for the production of 100 million vials per year and storage space," she said.
The issuance of the EUA awaits the results of clinical trials in Bandung, which will be accepted in early January 2021, and it will be compared with the results of clinical trials in Brazil and Turkey. "There is data consistency as compared to the data in Bandung. "We have already registered for EUA based on clinical trial data after the second injection," she said.
The research team, together with the Health Ministry’s Research and Development Agency, analyzed the efficacy data from the antibody levels and neutralization if exposed to Covid-19. The data shows good results.
Regarding the safety aspect, no serious side effects have been discovered and the data is consistent with the results of phases 1 and 2. "The research team, together with the Health Ministry’s Research and Development Agency, analyzed the efficacy data from the antibody levels and neutralization if exposed to Covid-19. The data shows good results," she added.
AFP/BAY ISMOYO
An employee works on the production line of COVID-19 coronavirus vaccines at the Bio Farma Pharmacy, which will produce the vaccine early next year with a production capacity of 250 million vaccines a year, in Bandung, West Java on August 12, 2020. - Indonesia on August 11 launched human trials of a Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine with some 1,600 volunteers slated to take part in the six-month study.
According to the head of Padjadjaran University’s Covid-19 Vaccine Clinical Trial Research Team, Kusnandi Rusmil, the injection of two doses for participants in the third phase of clinical trials was completed on 16 November 2020. "All subjects are being monitored for side effects. [The side effects are] mostly local reactions, pain at the injection spot and mild muscle ache," he said. (MEL/FLO)
(This article was translated by Kurniawan H. Siswoko)
