Jokowi Launches Homegrown COVID-19 Vaccine Indovac

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi has officially launched a homegrown COVID-19 vaccine named IndoVac produced by state-owned pharmacy Bio Farma in Bandung, West Java. This year's production capacity reaches more than 20 million and will be increased to 40 million next year.

“We can produce our own COVID-19 vaccine from now on,” said the President at the vaccine launching event in Bandung, Thursday, October 13, 2022. “If the market needs it (the vaccine), it (Bio Farma) can [produce] 120 million doses of vaccine.”

He thus praised the young workforce who worked on this vaccine from upstream to downstream and ordered SOE Minister Erick Thohir and Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin to keep pushing Bio Farma to contribute to the country.

“And so we have independence in vaccine matters,” Jokowi remarked.

Last month, SOE Deputy Minister Pahala Nugraha Mansury said IndoVac was being developed by Bio Farma to be used for the booster vaccination. “We hope that it can be used domestically as booster vaccines,” he said after monitoring the vaccine clinical trial at Dago Health Center, Bandung, on Monday, September 12, 2022.

Pahala said the vaccine would be prioritized for domestic use. Yet he did not rule out the possibility it can be exported to other developing countries that record low vaccination rates.

Head of the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) Penny K Lukito confirmed that IndoVac, a trademark of the Merah Putih Vaccine, is the first COVID-19 vaccine produced in Indonesia through Bio Farma's production facility in Bandung.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO

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