TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State pharmaceutical firm Bio Farma CEO Honesti Basyir denied rumors saying that the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by China’s Sinovac Biotech imported to Indonesia is more expensive than in Brazil. The current selling price is now set at around Rp200,000 per dose

Recent reports suggested that China's pharmaceutical company sold the vaccine per dose at US$1.96 or around Rp29,000 to Brazil, far lower than the price set for Indonesia. Honesti clarified his side had called Sinovac regarding the matter.

“Information saying that the purchase agreement for 46 million doses valuing US$90 million between the Sinovac and the Brazilian government is not true, and the price of US$1.96 per dose is also not true,” Honesti explained on Tuesday, October 13, 2020.

He reiterated that the vaccine price could not be too cheap as the delivery cost per each is around US$2. However, he admitted that the pricing scheme must not be uniformed.

Sinovac Biotech reportedly will supply 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for Indonesia by the end of December 2020. It was committed to shipping 1.5 million doses in the first week of November, and 1.5 million doses in the first week of December 2020. The Chinese firm also pledged to provide 15 million doses in bulk.

Read: Indonesia Explores COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation with UK, Switzerland

FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA