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Government expects emergency vaccine approval within weeks
An additional 1.8 million doses of CoronaVac vaccine arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Thursday, bringing the total to 3 million ready-to-use doses Indonesia has received so far after the first batch arrived on Dec. 6.
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A medical professional at a community health center (Puskesmas) in Tapos, Depok, West Java, administers a vaccine during a COVID-19 vaccination simulation on Oct. 21, 2020. (JP/P.J.Leo)
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ndonesia has received the second consignment of Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech's COVID-19 candidate vaccine, with the government seeking authorization for the vaccine’s emergency use within weeks.
The additional 1.8 million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Thursday, bringing the total to 3 million ready-to-use doses Indonesia has received so far after the first batch arrived on Dec. 6. Its efficacy, however, is still inconclusive.
Authorities have been quick to focus on mass vaccination throughout the country, which has been fighting an uphill battle against the novel coronavirus with a lack of PCR testing and tracing.
"In the near future, it's expected that 15 million doses of bulk vaccine from Sinovac, which will then be manufactured [into individual doses] by Bio Farma, will also arrive in Indonesia," Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said during a virtual press briefing on Thursday.
Indonesia's Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has yet to authorize emergency use of the vaccine. The government is hoping for approval in January so that the vaccination of 1.3 million medical workers can begin in the same month, with newly appointed Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin saying he was optimistic about securing the green light in "a week or two".
Read also: Vaccine promises hope for 2021
The BPOM said it was expecting interim results from the ongoing late-stage CoronaVac trials in Bandung, West Java, in early January. It will also take into account trials carried out by other countries after experts urged the agency to do so, given the relatively small number of participants in the Bandung study, or 1,620 people.
