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Indonesian doctors blame govt incompetence for fake vaccine case
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For the sake of your health – An immunization worker administers an oral polio vaccine to a young child participating in a 2016 National Immunization Week event at state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma’s headquarters in Bandung, West Java, Tuesday.
(thejakartapost.com/Arya Dipa)
I
ndonesian doctors have accused the government of ignorance in its handling of fake vaccine distribution for years despite reports from a pharmaceutical company and the nation's food and drugs watchdog about vaccine scarcity and fake vaccine distribution in 2011 and 2013.
The Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) said on Monday that the government had not followed up on the reports of GlaxoSmithKline and the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) with a significant response from the police.
“This case is simply a time bomb that has just exploded,” IDI secretary general M Adib Khumaidi said at a press conference, adding that it was unfair for the public to only blame doctors, as the Health Ministry and BPOM have let fake vaccine distribution continue for years.
The police revealing the fake vaccine supply chain will entirely resolve the case, Adib said. Most of the fake vaccines are imported pediacel and tripacel.
East Jakarta Health Agency head Iwan Kurniawan explained that the state-owned pharmaceutical company produced local vaccines and provided them free of charge to any health facilities. However, some private hospitals preferred to buy imported vaccines, Iwan added. (dan)
