Indonesia Aiming to be COVID-19 Vaccine Production Hub for SE Asia

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government, in cooperation with COVID-19 vaccine-producing countries, is contemplating a strategic step that will make Indonesia a manufacturing hub for the vaccine in Southeast Asia.

"The government will soon complete a number of domestic facilities to turn (the country) into a manufacturing hub for (COVID-19) vaccines in Southeast Asia," Syefri Lewis, a researcher who has been researching endemic diseases, said in a written statement issued on Tuesday.

The step to make Indonesia a hub for the distribution of vaccines is very important for the country to help it serve as a distribution center and make use of technology transfer to speed up its capability to produce the vaccines domestically, he explained.

Indonesia also deserves to serve as a hub for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines since it is functioning as the main vaccine distribution network in Southeast Asia, he noted adding, this is also inseparable from the fact that Indonesia has the largest population in the region.

"Indonesia must be able to serve as a hub for the manufacturing of vaccines due to its large population. If Indonesia is a hub for the manufacturing of vaccines, it will have faster access to obtain and distribute vaccines to all its citizens,” he said.

Becoming a hub for the manufacturing of vaccines in Southeast Asia will allow Indonesia to keep down vaccine procurement costs, he added.

To achieve this end, all concerned institutions should synergize under the aegis of the Task Force for COVID-19 Response and National Economic Recovery (PEN), he said.

He appealed to all sides to help end the polemic on vaccines and focus on cooperation to ensure the success of the nation’s vaccine program.

"All institutions should coordinate to achieve the large mission to distribute vaccines to all parts of Indonesia," he said.

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