Bio Farma Will Export IndoVac Vaccine to Other Countries
- VIVA/M Ali Wafa
VIVA – The IndoVac vaccine made in Indonesia was created to fulfill the needs of the community, especially to reduce COVID-19 cases. Previously, this COVID-19 vaccine for adults over 18 years old received a Use Emergency Authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration (BPOM) on September 28, 2022.
Currently, Bio Farma has started the commercial production of drug substances (DS) and drug products (DP). In addition, this Pharmaceutical BUMN Holding is registering an Emergency Ese Listing (EUL) with the World Health Organization (WHO), so it can be exported to various countries, especially lower-middle-income countries.
Regarding exports, the President Director of PT Bio Farma, Honesti Basyir, stated that his party had coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The first country that will receive the export of the COVID-19 vaccine made in Indonesia is Nigeria.
“Our export plan has also been coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The first country is probably Nigeria. Last week we met with the Indonesian Ambassador in Nigeria, there will be the delivery of two vaccines, such as Pentabio and IndoVac vaccines," Honesti Basyir said in a media gathering in the Menteng area, Central Jakarta, Wednesday, October 26, 2022.
Vaksin Indovac.
- Bio Farma
Honesti conveyed that apart from Nigeria, the IndoVac vaccine might also be imported to two other countries in Africa, namely Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
"There will be two more African countries that we are talking about. Yesterday, there was a visit to Mozambique and some time ago to Zimbabwe," Honesti Basyir remarked
Honesti explained that the reason IndoVac's COVID-19 vaccine was exported to African countries was one of the reasons for the low level of COVID-19 vaccination there. In addition, infrastructure reasons are also a consideration for PT Bio Farma to export the IndoVac vaccine to some countries on the African continent.
“The accessibility of vaccines is because their infrastructure not very good. We can see that our vaccines are very feasible because the storage temperature is 2 to 8 degrees. The infrastructure is not as good as other countries if Pfizer can get to -20 degrees but certain countries don't have the storage infrastructure up to that temperature. IndoVac is very possible. We also have experience with many of the polio vaccines that we send to African countries," he said.
In addition, Honesti added that the export of the IndoVac vaccine to Africa is part of the state grant.
"It's still a grant, Indonesia is part of the world's supply. The city gets a grant from developed countries," Honesti remarked.
