TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Health expects that locally produced COVID-19 vaccine will spearhead booster dose vaccination in the country.

"We expect that domestic vaccine will spearhead booster vaccination so that we will become self-resilient and will not be dependent on other countries," Deputy Minister of Health Dante Saksono Harbuwono stated on Saturday.

The presence of domestically produced COVID-19 vaccine allows the people to have easy access to booster dose to improve their body's immunity, he said.

Administering booster is especially important given that antibody can decline over time. The decline of antibody will increase the risk of COVID-19 infection, he informed.

In addition, he noted that the people should continue to stringently implement health protocol to prevent the spread of the virus.

"If the chain is broken, it will stop the infection. This is done by implementing the health protocol," he explained.

"The virus will stop spreading and mutating if it does not have a medium, namely people who do not implement health protocol," he continued.

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin noted that his ministry is concentrating on supplying the demand for domestically produced COVID-19 vaccine to cover imported vaccine scarcity that several regions experience.

"The Pharmacy and Health Device Directorate General (Farmalkes) is concentrating ion purchasing domestic vaccines belonging to Bio Farma," Harbuwono said.

The vaccines that he meant was the IndoVac vaccines developed by Airlangga University (Unair) and produced by State-owned Pharmaceutical Company PT Bio Farma in Bandung, West Java.

The protein recombinant platform vaccine was unveiled by President Joko Widodo on October 13, 2022 to be used for people aged 12 to 17 years and children under the age of 12.

IndoVac has received the emergency use authorization (EUA) from the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) on September 24, 2022 for primary vaccination (first and second doses) of adults aged 18 years above.

ANTARA

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