UGM Withdraws from Nusantara Vaccine Development

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Gadjah Mada University (UGM Yogyakarta)'s Faculty of Medicine's clinical research team has announced its withdrawal from the Nusantara Vaccine program initiated by former health minister Terawan Agus Putranto.

As reported earlier, the former health minister said he and his team were developing the Nusantara Vaccine, which was claimed to have a longer period of immunity compared to other antivirus variants due to its use of base dendritic cells.

In the official resignation letter addressed to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, it was mentioned the team of UGM researchers were not involved in the clinical trial process, including in the protocol formulation.

“There has yet to be any involvement. We only knew about it after the mass media reported about it, about how it was developed in Semarang, and that the UGM team was involved in its development,” said the UGM's Faculty of Medicine deputy dean, Yodi Mahendradhata, in a press statement on March 8.

Yodi said the UGM researchers were only informed about the Nusantara Vaccine plan informally and there were no discussions afterwards. He added the UGM researchers were oblivious to the fact that the Health Ministry had mentioned them and their position in the vaccination development. 

The UGM researchers refused to be involved in the research as they had never seen the clinical trial protocol of the Nusantara Vaccine’s development or how it would be developed. 

Read: UGM Pledges to Increase GeNose Accuracy Rate to Prevent False Negative

PRIBADI WICAKSONO (CONTRIBUTOR)