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Indonesia to have 290 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine by end of 2021: Jokowi
The government expects to procure around 290 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2021, but the foreign minister hopes the country will get its hands on at least 20 million this year.
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said on Monday that the country would have the ability to procure around 290 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2021. (Shutterstock/siam.pukkato)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said on Monday that the country would have the ability to procure around 290 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2021.
“It is a huge number. We can eventually export the vaccine to other countries if our supply exceeds the domestic demand,” the President said, while citing that Indonesia was also developing its own vaccine, named Merah Putih in reference to the country’s red and white flag.
The Merah Putih vaccine, which is developed by a national consortium under the Research and Technology Ministry, was expected to cover at least 50 percent of the country’s 260 million population. State-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma aims to mass-produce the vaccine by 2022 if it earns approval from the Indonesia Food and Monitoring Agency (BPOM).
Jokowi previously also ordered Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir to visit China and the United Arab Emirates to secure various partnerships, particularly regarding the coronavirus vaccine.
Speaking at the State Palace on Monday after reporting the visits’ results to the President, Minister Retno explained that the country would have roughly 20 to 30 million doses of vaccine by the end of this year.
Some 80 to 130 million doses are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2021, while another 210 million are to be procured between the second and fourth quarter of next year.
“In total, we would have 290 to 340 million doses of vaccine [by then],” Retno said.
