TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM) will reportedly evaluate the claimed Covid-19 candidate vaccine dubbed the ‘Vaksin Nusantara’ or Nusantara Vaccine, developed by a team led by the former health minister Terawan Agus Putranto - who was one of several ministers subjected to President Jokowi’s Cabinet reshuffle in late last year.

BPOM clinical trial head Siti Asfijah announced on Thursday, Feb. 18, that that they had obtained the first clinical trial reports on the research of the candidate-vaccine. She said they will make sure that the development adheres to proper requirements.

“We are processing [the data],” she said. “It must be ensured that the first clinical trial phase fulfills the requirements needed.”

Reported earlier, former health minister Terawan announced that he and his team is developing a bespoke vaccine, to fight the SARS-CoV2 virus, he dubs as the Nusantara Vaccine. The development is a joint effort by researchers at the Kariadi Semarang General Hospital laboratory, Diponegoro University, and the Aivita Biomedical Corporation from the United States.

He claimed the vaccine has a longer period of immunity compared to other antivirus variants due to its use of base dendritic cells.

Meanwhile, member of the Nusantara Vaccine team of researchers, Dr. Yeti Movieta Nency explained that the vaccine was created from a patient’s blood sample - white blood cells and their dendritic cells - and reintroduced with a recombinant from SARS-CoV-2.

Yetty noted that the candidate vaccine has low chances of causing an infection or being rejected by the recipient's body.

TEMPO.CO | Zacharias Wuragil