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Private sector picks up slack in vaccine 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, or 160 million doses.

Ardila Syakriah (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, April 12, 2021

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Private sector picks up slack in vaccine drive

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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

Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) deputy chairperson Shinta Kamdani said 17,386 private companies — covering 8.6 million employees and their families — have signed up for the program in its first round of registrations. Kadin plans to open another round of registrations next week. State-owned enterprises, meanwhile, have to register themselves with Bio Farma, which has recorded at least 30 participating companies.

“As discussed with the government, the target for the Gotong Royong program is 20 million recipients from private and state-owned companies,” Shinta told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The private scheme’s supply plan was laid out at the same time Budi told lawmakers that there may be a delay in the arrival of 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which Indonesia had secured through the multilateral initiative COVAX-GAVI facility and a bilateral agreement with the British-Swedish firm. These doses are for the free vaccine rollout.

Facing a limited supply of vaccines in April, Budi said Indonesia would have to slow down its vaccine rollout, affecting the second priority group covering senior citizens and public workers. The pace at which the country is inoculating its elderly population, which are the most at-risk, continues to lag far behind that of public workers. Only 2 million senior citizens have received their first shots so far, while 6.5 million public workers have received theirs.

Read also: Private vaccination may risk equal access in Indonesia's COVID-19 response

In a virtual interview with the Post on Saturday, Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which funds Sputnik V’s development, said the producer would be able to supply vaccines for up to 30 percent of Indonesia’s population this year, or 160 million doses.

He said the RDIF was still finalizing a contract with the Indonesian government. After receiving its emergency use approval, the sovereign wealth fund would be ready to ship the first batch of the vaccines within two weeks after the contract’s signing and the majority of them within the next four to five months, he added.

“We understand that there are two schemes […] We are happy to work through the private program, we are happy to work with the government’s program, but we just need the Indonesian government’s guidance on how to best work with Indonesia, and we will figure it out.”

Dmitriev assured that Sputnik V was halal, safe for its use of human adenoviruses, storable at fridge temperature, hence suitable for Indonesia’s cold chain infrastructure, and relatively affordable at US$10 per shot. Interim late-stage trial results published in The Lancet showed that its efficacy was reported at 91.6 percent.

Read also: Indonesia expects Moderna, Sinopharm vaccines for private inoculation drive

Asked whether there were plans to secure Sputnik V doses for the government’s free vaccination program, Bio Farma spokesman Bambang Heriyanto said: “In accordance with prevailing regulations, vaccines used in the Gotong Royong program cannot be the same as the ones used by the government.”

He was referring to a 2021 Health Ministerial Regulation issued in February. Ministry spokesperson Siti Nadia Tarmizi also implied on Sunday that if the Sputnik V vaccine was to be used for the Gotong Royong program, then it could not be used for the government’s inoculation drive.

Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman said it was a “big mistake” for the government to proceed with the private scheme when vaccine supplies for the elderly under the free program remained uncertain. He added that the government would fail to accomplish its target of suppressing death and hospitalization rates if it defied public health and scientific approaches in its vaccination strategy.

“Prevailing policies need to be revised according to the current situation. Any policy regarding a pandemic can’t be rigid, especially if we talk about vaccines [because] supply is a big issue.”

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