JAKARTA/BEIJING: Indonesia said it granted emergency use approval to a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine developed through a Chinese company, the first country, even ahead of China, to do so.
The Indonesian Food and Drug Administration (BPOM) has given the green light to the use of Walvax Biotechnology’s mRNA vaccine, which has been in development for more than two years and targets the original strain of coronavirus.
The approval is unexpected because Walvax, which has conducted large, late-stage trials of the vaccine in several countries, adding Indonesia, Mexico and China, has yet to release efficacy readings showing how much the threat of COVID cases and deaths can decrease.
Penny Lukito, the agency’s director, told reporters that the vaccine, now known as AWcorna, is 83. 58% effective compared to wild-type coronavirus strains, although it is not unusual and normal, although it added that its effectiveness drops to 71. 17% for the highly contagious Omicron variant.
She did not provide the main points about the data and did not respond to questions from additional comments from Reuters.
Walvax declined to comment.
Indonesia already granted emergency use approvals to other Chinese COVID vaccines before detailed knowledge of efficacy became available, this happened earlier in the pandemic when Western-made products were scarce.
China has several mRNA applicants in development, however, the Walvax vaccine is the candidate in giant late-stage clinical trials.
It was not clear without delay to what extent the newly approved vaccine will be used in Indonesia, where more than 63% of its population is fully vaccinated. Health experts around the world also proposed so-called bivalent COVID vaccines, which are the original strain, and the Omicron variant.
Indonesia also uses COVID mRNA vaccines manufactured through Pfizer – BioNTech and Moderna, the AWcorna vaccine has a longer shelf life and remains solid at 2-8 degrees Celsius for at least six months, according to its researchers.
This can make the vaccine ideal for Indonesia, an archipelago of thousands of islands and other countries that have poor logistics in remote areas.
BPOM said the vaccine’s less stringent garage needs were suitable for Indonesia, a tropical country, and that it can only be used as the number one shot and as an adult booster vaccine.
The vaccine will be produced through an Indonesian company, Etana Biotechnologies.
Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist at Australia’s Griffith University, said generating AWcorna at home through the generational movement would help the country expand enough expertise as it seeks to prepare for new variants and potential vaccine shortages.
“It’s and strategic,” he said.
Walvax co-developed the vaccine with Suzhou Abogen Biosciences and a Chinese military-subsidized establishment.
Walvax and Suzhou Abogen are also running their own mRNA applicants targeting coronavirus variants.
For its part, China has approved any COVID vaccine manufactured in the West, and its portfolio of approved vaccines still includes vaccines in particular targeting the Omicron variant.
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