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Private sector picks up slack in vaccination drive
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which funds the development of the Sputnik V vaccine, said it would be able to supply shots for up to 30 percent of Indonesia’s population this year.
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Elderly people sit distanced from one another as they wait their turn for a pre-COVID-19 vaccination screening at a community health center (Puseksmas) in Palmerah, West Jakarta, on Feb. 25. The government aims to inoculate some 21 million people aged 60 and above, but global supply shortages threaten to delay vaccine deliveries to Indonesia and elsewhere. (JP/Ardila Syakriah)
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s the government slows down its free inoculation rollout for priority groups due to limited vaccine supplies, a separate, private vaccination scheme has potentially secured 40 million doses of vaccines for the employees of participating companies. The doses are expected to arrive gradually and as early as late April.
State-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma president director Honesti Basyir recently told lawmakers that vaccine supplies for the private program currently in discussion involved 15 million doses of dual-shot vaccines and 5 million single-doses from Chinese firms Sinopharm and CanSino Biologics, respectively, and 20 million dual-doses from Russia’s Sputnik V.
Bio Farma has been tasked with procuring and distributing COVID-19 vaccines for both the government’s free vaccination drive and the private scheme — the latter of which has been dubbed the Gotong Royong (mutual cooperation) program.
All three vaccines have yet to receive emergency approval from the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), but agency head Penny K. Lukito said it expected to issue the approval for Sputnik V in late April after receiving a complete set of data on efficacy, safety and quality.
Sputnik V deliveries, according to Honesti, could start sometime between late April and July, with around 5 million doses per month, as soon as BPOM issues the approval.
Sinopharm might start deliveries in the fourth week of April with 500,000 doses, another 7 million doses by July and 7.5 million doses in the second half of this year, Honesti said. Meanwhile, CanSino is expected to send 3 million doses between July and September and another 2 million in the last quarter of 2021.
Read also: Indonesian government promises big, then falters in vaccine procurement
