A Closed Chapter in the Nusantara Vaccine Debacle

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Taking place at the Indonesian Army Headquarters (Mabes TNI), the Coordinating Minister of Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy gathered the Indonesian Army Chief of Staff (KSAD) Andika Perkasa, Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) Penny Lukito, and Health Minister Budi Sadikin in a meeting to discuss the controversy surrounding the Nusantara Vaccine. 

According to the latest report from Tempo Magazine the meeting was held on April 19 after Minister Muhadjir had received a call from State Secretary Pratikno - who delivered the message from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo ordering him to put the controversy to rest. 

The dendritic cell treatment vaccine that was developed by former Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto caused a fiasco as the project’s stakeholders were adamant to continue the research even after the BPOM had announced the research failed to pass requirements for the first clinical trial. It stirred more controversy as a number of House legislators decided to subject themselves as the vaccine’s second clinical trial volunteers. 

The meeting at the Army headquarters was reportedly rather heated as the BPOM head determined that an evaluation on Nusantara Vaccine’s research exposed many shortcomings. However, after two hours discussing this issue the Army Chief of Staff, the BPOM head, and the Health Minister eventually signed a memorandum of understanding enabling the research on dendritic cells to continue at the Gatot Subroto Army Hospital but not as a vaccine but a research on a therapy method which is not permitted to be traded and does not require authorization to market.

Tempo tried to confirm reports of this meeting to Andika Perkasa but has yet received any answer while the Health Minister remained tight-lipped and said “It’s a closed chapter.”

What was discussed in the meeting? What was contained in the MoU? And why did a number of House of Representatives legislators push support for the Nusantara Vaccine that failed to pass its first clinical trial? Read the details of this story in Tempo Magazine’s latest April 26 edition.

Read: TNI Promises Nusantara Vaccine Will Follow Scientific Principles

RAYMANDUS RIKANG | TEMPO.CO