TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Health Ministry is monitoring the developments in the Nusantara vaccine which has now become the public limelight again.

Director for Direct Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said her institution is still studying the development of the homegrown Covid-19 vaccine. “We study it first,” she said shortly via a WhatsApp chat on Thursday, June 17.

The vaccine initiated by the former Health Minister, Terawan, has again received political support from the House of Representatives (DPR). During a hearing between the House’s Research and Technology Commission and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, and Terawan on Wednesday, June 16, several legislators called for support for the vaccine development.

The House members also requested that the vaccine be granted permission for the phase III clinical trial, which is the final trial before they are allowed for distribution.

The DPR will also summon a number of institutions regarding the two homegrown Covid-19 vaccines, namely the Merah Putih vaccine and the Nusantara vaccine.

The Research and Technology Commission member Ridwan Hisjam said the DPR planned to summon the Health Ministry, the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), the State-Owned Enterprises or SOE Ministry, and the Finance Ministry. “We have scheduled the meeting next week, and this is the decision of the meeting,” Ridwan told Tempo on Thursday, June 17.

Read: Terawan Explains the Nusantara Vaccine Fiasco in House Hearing

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