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Indonesia aims to secure more vaccines from UK
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir left the country with a team on Monday for official visits to London, as well as Bern and Geneva in Switzerland.
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AstraZeneca is developing a COVID-19 vaccine with Oxford University and is among the front runners in the global vaccine race, which according to a Reuters report, could provide early analyses of data from their various large trials over the next two months. (Shutterstock/siam.pukkato)
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tate officials are embarking on an official trip to Europe this week to secure another supply of COVID-19 vaccines after the government finalized previous deals made with Chinese producers.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir left the country with a team on Monday for official visits to London, as well as Bern and Geneva in Switzerland.
“The main objective of this visit is to secure commitments from other sources for a COVID-19 vaccine under a bilateral vaccine cooperation framework,” Retno told a press briefing before her departure.
In August, Retno and Erick went on a similar work trip to China and the United Arab Emirates, where they secured a supply of a potential COVID-19 vaccine in the ballpark of 300 million doses until the end of next year.
Retno did not specify which vaccine producers she and Erick would meet this week.
However, Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartanto earlier said that the government was going to pay for a down payment on vaccines from Britain-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca by the end of this month.
“The government, through the Health Ministry, will procure vaccines from AstraZeneca in a contract for 100 million doses,” Airlangga said in a Sunday webinar held by the Association of the Gadjah Mada University Alumni. “We will pay a 50 percent down payment by the end of this month, or about US$250 million.”
