President Joko Widodo Inaugurates the Launch of the IndoVac Vaccine, a Covid-19 Vaccine Produced by Indonesia

JAKARTADAILY.ID – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo launched and reviewed the first injection of the IndoVac Vaccine, a domestically produced Covid-19 vaccine at PT Bio Farma's factory, Bandung, West Java, Thursday, October 13, 2022.

During the occasion, Jokowi asked his staff to support vaccine development programs in the country so that Indonesia can be more independent in meeting national vaccine needs.

"The Minister of SOEs, the Minister of Health, continue to encourage Bio Farma so that later it will actually generate a larger revenue for the country and we have independence, truly self-sufficient in vaccine matters," said Jokowi as quoted by setkab.go.id, Thursday, October 13, 2022.

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Jokowi revealed that the production capacity of the IndoVac vaccine reached around 20 million doses this year. It will further increase to 40 million doses in the coming year.

"The capacity this year will be approximately 20 million, the President Director [Bio Farma] said, next year it could be 40 million, and if the market still needs it, it can reach 120 million doses of vaccine," he said.

The President also appreciated all parties who have supported the development of a domestically produced COVID-19 vaccine, which has been carried out within 1.5 years.

"I think this is the hard work of our young human resources in working on a new vaccine, from upstream to downstream," he explained.

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Jokowi also gave his appreciation to Bio Farma, a State-Owned Enterprise that is able to stand in as the top five vaccine producers in the world. Bio Farma’s production capacity now is up to 3 billion doses of vaccine per year which are exported to 153 countries.

"Bio Farma is a vaccine producer that is in the top five in the world and produces various vaccines, be it polio, diphtheria, meningitis, flu, measles, and the last one that we inaugurate today is the COVID-19 vaccine, IndoVac," he explained.

Meanwhile, Indonesian SOE Minister Erick Thohir said that the development of a domestically produced COVID-19 vaccine is the first step in efforts to support health security in Indonesia. Erick said that in the future his party would continue to encourage similar cooperation.

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President Director of Bio Farma Honesti Basyir said that the IndoVac vaccine is a vaccine produced domestically by Indonesian experts. He hopes that the development of vaccines in this country can be a milestone for Indonesia to be independent and reduce dependence on imported products.