Responding to the planned supply of COVID-19 vaccines from Chinese companies later this year, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil has said he wants 3 million doses for residents of Bogor, Depok and Bekasi (Bodebek).
Responding to the planned supply of COVID-19 vaccines from Chinese companies later this year, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil has said he wants 3 million doses for residents of Bogor, Depok and Bekasi (Bodebek).
Ridwan, who also chairs the West Java COVID-19 and economic recovery committee, said Bodebek had been prioritized as it was the center of the virus outbreak in the province.
During a meeting with committee members in Bandung on Monday, Ridwan said some 1,000 healthcare workers had been trained to administer the vaccine.
“We are conducting a preparatory simulation of a vaccination drive in Depok this Thursday,” Ridwan said.
Ridwan said his administration had also trained 3,000 volunteers to help conduct case tracing in Greater Bandung.
Currently, West Java traces up to six people per confirmed case. Ridwan said his administration aimed to increase this number to 30.
The Health Ministry’s disease control and prevention director general, Achmad Yurianto, previously said the government had secured deals for vaccines with three Chinese companies, namely Sinovac, Sinopharm and CanSino.
Sinovac is committed to providing vaccines in their finished form, with two batches to be shipped. The first delivery of 1.5 million dosses will be in November and the second will be in December.
Injections of the Sinovac vaccine must be done twice within 13 days.
Meanwhile, Sinopharm has agreed to provide 15 million doses of a vaccine that also requires two injections, while Cansino will send 100,000 doses of a vaccine that only requires one injection.
Yurianto said the vaccines from the three producers would be available for 9.1 million people later this year, following emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) as well as halal certification from the Indonesian Ulema Council.
In addition, Yurianto said, United Kingdom-based pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca had committed to delivering 100 million doses of a vaccine in March next year.
The deal was made between the government, represented by Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir and executives from AstraZeneca, in London earlier this month.
Indonesia through the Eijkman Institute is also developing the Merah-Putih (Red and White) vaccine, for which phase three clinical trials will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2021, Yuri said. (syk)
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