YAKARTA: Indonesia will have the capacity to produce 250 million doses a year of a coronavirus vaccine until the end of 2020, ending human trials, a minister said on Tuesday, as the country seeks to stop a wave of infections that have shown no symptoms of relief.
Indonesia has shown 115,056 cases of Covid-19 and 5,388 deaths since its first infections in March. It has reported more than 1,000 new instances almost every day since early June.
State-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma will begin phase 3 of human clinical trials this week with a vaccine produced through Sinovac in China. If successful, Bio Farma said it would produce the vaccine itself.
The global pandemic has triggered a rush to create a vaccine, with more than a hundred in progression and a dozen already tested in humans. However, there are considerations about the call and arrival of countries in a long-term coup d’éte.
Erick Thohir, Indonesia’s phon of state-owned enterprises, said Bio Farma would increase capacity in the coming months and that by the end of the year it would be in a position to produce 250 million doses consistent with the year.
“Let us accept the truth with the capabilities of our country. Don’t doubt bio Farma that has a proven value of generating vaccines produced with foreign partners or vaccines produced only through (them),” Thohir said in a statement.
Indonesian trials will be conducted in West Java with about 1,600 volunteers, according to the West Java website.
Sinovac did not respond to a request for comment. He also works with Bangladesh and Brazil for clinical trials.
Bambang Heriyanto, general secretary of Bio Farma, told Reuters that the target production capacity of 250 million doses depended on the good fortune of the vaccine.
Muhyiddin Yassin calls on the Malays to continue to agree in the country and to fly the Jalur Gemilang wherever they are.