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Indonesia begins clinical trials of homegrown COVID-19 candidate vaccine
Researchers recently began phase one clinical trials of a domestically produced COVID-19 candidate vaccine, a development that may bring the country closer to producing its first homegrown coronavirus jab.
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A student receives a Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine dose at an elementary school in Banda Aceh on Jan. 18. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin)
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ndonesian researchers recently began phase one clinical trials of a domestically produced COVID-19 candidate vaccine, a development that may bring the country closer to producing its first homegrown coronavirus jab.
Airlangga University and partner PT Biotis Pharmaceuticals, which have developed the candidate vaccine under the Merah Putih initiative, claim that if the clinical trials are successful, the vaccine may be mass produced by July or August of this year.
The effort to produce a homegrown vaccine started in the early days of the pandemic as the country sought to achieve vaccine self-sufficiency amid an international scramble for scarce supplies.
The research team is part of a vaccine development consortium led by the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry. Each constituent research team is developing a different COVID-19 candidate vaccine through various means, including the use of the inactivated virus, mRNA and DNA.
Early steps
On Feb. 7, the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) granted the Airlangga-Biotis research team approval to conduct phase one clinical trials on humans.
Some 90 volunteers received a first dose of the candidate vaccine on Feb. 9. They are set to receive the second dose 28 days later.
