Bio Farma Recalls Hardships in Securing Sinovac Vaccines

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bio Farma president director Honesti Basyir recalled the challenges the state-pharmaceutical firm had to endure in order to obtain Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines. He said they received bullying from many sides as they partnered with the Chinese vaccine maker, Sinovac Biotech Ltd., when the clinical trials had not been completed. 

“We were bullied in the early days but we were aware that bullying is a vitamin for us. At the time, the contract was non-existent and it might violate the rules. But we knew that if we did not take that position we would not have obtained the vaccines,” said Honesti Basyir in the 2021 disaster mitigation coordination meeting on March 9.

He said the decision to quickly initiate a partnership with Sinovac was due to the rising global competition to secure vaccine allotments and the contrasting gap between demands and supply.

Basyir explained that the global demand for a vaccine reached 12-14 billion doses annually - which is calculated based on the world’s total population and the two doses of vaccine needed for each individual. 

The situation became more urgent for Indonesia since developed countries with more established economy had already placed their orders that further reduced the vaccine supply.

“Then how about Indonesia, we were not able to compete economically but we had the competence. Out SOEs had a vaccine core production and this is a blessing,” said the Bio Farma president. 

This reason drove the firm to open communication with a number of vaccine producers and Sinovac was the first to respond. At this stage, Sinovac vaccines were entering its third clinical trial which had the greatest possibility to have a lower failure risk. 

But the problem did not stop there as at the time, Indonesia did not have regulations covering bilateral vaccine partnerships, effectively zero budget for its purchase, and the lack of contracts. “The risks were all present there. But we knew that if we did not take the opportunity we would lose supply,” he said. 

Through the Foreign Affairs Ministry and SOEs Ministry, the Indonesian government opened a communication with China and finally got the deal to bring home Sinovac vaccines in January this year.

The Bio Farma President maintains that Indonesia is one of 60 countries that has started nationwide Covid-19 vaccination program.

FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA