Indonesia Receives First Covid Vaccine from China\'s Sinovac
Indonesia receives 1.2 million doses from China\'s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Another 1.8 million doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in early January.
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REUTERS, AP
·2 minutes read
INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE / AFP
This handout photo taken on December 6, 2020 and released by the Indonesian Presidential Palace shows workers unloading the 1.2 million dosage of covid-19 vaccine made by Sinovac, upon its arrival from Beijing at the Jakarta International Airport in Tangerang.
JAKARTA, SUNDAY -- Indonesia received its first shipment of coronavirus vaccine from China on Sunday, President Joko Widodo said, as the government prepares a mass inoculation programme.
Jokowi, as the president is widely known, said in an online briefing that the Southeast Asian country received 1.2 million doses from China\'s Sinovac Biotech Ltd., a vaccine Indonesia has been testing since August.
He added that the government plans to receive another 1.8 million doses in early January. “We are very grateful, thank God, the vaccine is now available so that we can immediately curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease,” Widodo said in a televised address.
Late-stage trials of the Sinovac vaccine are also under way in Brazil and Turkey, with interim results on efficiency from Brazil expected by mid-December. Indonesia is already cooperating with Sinovac in phase 3 clinical trials of its vaccine candidate, with tests being carried out on 1,620 volunteers in West Java’s Bandung city since August.
INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE / AFP
This handout photo taken on December 6, 2020 and released by the Indonesian Presidential Palace shows workers unloading the 1.2 million dosage of covid-19 vaccine made by Sinovac, upon its arrival from Beijing at the Jakarta International Airport in Tangerang.
Indonesia is also expected this month to receive shipments of raw materials to produce 15 million doses and materials for 30 million doses next month, the president said. The raw materials will be further processed by state-owned pharmaceutical holding company PT Bio Farma.
The vaccine still needs to be evaluated by the country\'s food and drug agency (BPOM) while his administration continues to prepare for distributing the vaccine across the vast archipelago of 270 million people, Jokowi said.
"We have been preparing for months through simulations in several provinces and I am sure that once it is decided that we can begin the vaccination, everything will be ready," he said.
AFP PHOTO /INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
This handout photo taken on December 6, 2020 and released by the Indonesian Presidential Palace shows the containers with the 1.2 million dosage of covid-19 vaccine made by Sinovac, on arrival from Beijing at the Jakarta International Airport in Tangerang.
Penny Lukito, head of the Food and Drug Control Agency, estimated that the Sinovac vaccine would obtain emergency use authorization from the agency by the third or fourth week of January, after the agency evaluates interim results from the third-stage clinical trial.
Indonesia\'s daily number of coronavirus infections have accelerated in recent weeks, with total confirmed cases reaching 575,796 on Sunday with 17,740 deaths, the highest in Southeast Asia.
