Indonesia, the Chinese Sinovac vaccine against Covid has arrived in Jakarta

By Cristiano Antonino Last updated Dec 9, 2020

Indonesia arrived the first batch in Jakarta of Covid vaccine: it is 1.2 million doses. Another 1.8 million should be delivered in a month.

President Jokowi: “in December we will produce 15 million vaccines by ourselves; 30 million in January”.

Before starting the vaccination campaign, however, we expect the go-ahead from the drug agency, which should arrive in days.

The government received yesterday the first doses of the anti-coronavirus vaccine produced by Chinese Sinovac Biotech.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo gave the news late in the evening, explaining that the doses arrived in flight from China are 1.2 million.

The authorities expect to have another 1.8 million in early January.

State company PT Bio Farma has been testing Sinovac’s drug since last August.

Jokowi added that 15 million doses will arrive this month and 30 million will be produced next month.

In recent weeks, the country has seen significant growth of contagions.

There are almost 576,000 cases of infection; 17,740 deaths, the highest number in Southeast Asia.

Doubts remain as to when the vaccination campaign will begin.

The National Drug Agency (Bpom) has yet to approve the administration.

The evaluation will cover the quality and effectiveness of the vaccine, in addition to its being “halal” (“pure” for Islam).

Airlangga Hartarto, Minister of Economic Affairs, said that the first to be vaccinated will be the health personnel and public officials.

While for them there is no cost, private citizens seem to have to pay for immunization.

However, the government will pay for 93 million people from low-income families.

According to Bpom, the use of the Sinovac vaccine will be authorized by the end of December.

PT Bio Pharma’s top management explained that an effective vaccination campaign will be organized before February.