Gov't Targets Covid-19 Vaccines Production at Year End

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy, said that the government has set a target to domestically produce Covid-19 vaccines by the end of this year.

"Indonesia must be independent regarding vaccine manufacture. Indonesia has set a target to produce it by this year's end," said Muhadjir after a limited meeting with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo via teleconference on Thursday, June 4, 2020.

Muhadjir said that the president had instructed Indonesian researchers to immediately search for and find antibodies for Covid-19. Moreover, Jokowi said that a total of 147 parties in the world were developing vaccines, yet they will surely use it for their needs first.

"Meanwhile, Indonesia has 279 million people so inevitably, it is impossible to rely on imports. Thus, we have to get ready to conduct research on vaccines for Indonesia," Muhajir added.

Studies to develop Covid-19 vaccines are also part of the government's efforts to tackle Covid-19 pandemic. Other than vaccines, the government was striving to procure the virus test kits and other medical devices.

To date, Indonesia has domestically made several healthcare products, such as rapid test and PCR test kits, the WHO-standard hazmat suits, up to ventilators to help patients suffering from Covid-19. They are planned for mass production and will be distributed in early June.

EGI ADYATAMA