TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chairman of Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Amin Soebandrio, claimed many vaccine manufacturers including from China, Canada, and Europe offered a partnership to develop the Covid-19 vaccine.

“We are still reviewing which is most suitable for Indonesia considering vaccines made in country A are not necessarily qualified for country B,” said Amin to Antara news agency in Jakarta, Wednesday, May 6.

Amin reiterated that they will establish a consortium of vaccine development in Indonesia by involving several parties, such as industry, university, and other laboratory centers. By this, the development of the antitoxin of the new coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 will use domestic potential.

The collaboration offers, he opined, must be examined and analyzed thoroughly so that Indonesia would not be just an object of clinical tests. “So far, Eijkman has yet cooperated with foreign parties to develop vaccines in Indonesia.”

“If we want it simple, it’s easy to just take the vaccine from aboard, but we are often used as their objects for clinical tests only. And the problem is, there is no technology transfer so we don’t get anything, and if the test results come out good, we still have to pay [for the vaccine],” Amin elaborated.

He underlined that with such joint projects, Indonesia must be involved from the upstream to downstream, and there should be technology transfer. Besides, the vaccine development must be specified to contain Covid-19 circulating in Indonesia, rather than in other countries.

ANTARA