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Indonesia expects Moderna, Sinopharm vaccines for private inoculation drive
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Medical workers prepare to administer a COVID-19 vaccine at a drive-through vaccination center in Nusa Dua, Bali, on March 1. (Agence France Presse/Sonny Tumbelaka)
T
he government expects to receive more than 20 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from United States pharmaceutical firm Moderna and Chinese firm Sinopharm this year for use in a private vaccination program.
“We have negotiated and asked for commitments for a supply of 15 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from Sinopharm [...] and 5.2 million from Moderna,” said Honesti Basyir, CEO of state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma, at a hearing with lawmakers on Monday. He expected the Sinopharm vaccines to arrive by the end of the second quarter of this year and the Moderna vaccines to arrive by the third quarter.
The government is aiming to inoculate 181 million people by March 2022 as part of a free vaccination drive that began in January. Meanwhile, the country continues to endure the pandemic, with more than 1,425,000 million cumulative cases and 38,500 deaths reported since the beginning of the outbreak.
The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) had pushed the government to authorize the private inoculation drive, dubbed the Gotong Royong program, to run alongside the free one. This aims to help the country achieve herd immunity faster and bring about a quicker national recovery.
Read also: Private COVID-19 vaccination touted as ‘gotong royong’ effort, but can it really help?
However, health experts have warned that the program could threaten equal access to vaccination. The scheme allows businesses to buy vaccine supplies through the government to be distributed to employees and their family members. The privately available vaccines will be different from the brands used in the free mass vaccination program.
By Sunday, more than 11,500 companies had signed up for the plan, comprising about 7.4 million employees and their families, Kadin chairman Rosan P. Roeslani said at the Monday hearing.
