BPS Reveals RI Imports Of Vaccines Rp2.4 Trillion During January 2021

JAKARTA - The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said that Indonesia had imported a number of vaccines into the country through the import mechanism with a value of more than one hundred million US dollars during the first month of this year.

Head of BPS Suhariyanto said this figure is the accumulation of all vaccines and is not limited to the COVID-19 vaccine.

"That our total imports of vaccines during January 2021 amounted to 175.7 million US dollars (equivalent to Rp2.44 trillion / exchange rate of Rp.13,903)," he said in a virtual press conference, Monday, February 15.

Suhariyanto added, although it is considered large, it should be remembered that Indonesia itself has been bringing in certain vaccines from abroad, even before the pandemic hit.

"So keep in mind that this is not only a vaccine for COVID-19," he said.

Although it does not go into detail, it is known that the realization of vaccine imports during the last month was higher than the BPS report for the November 2020 period.

It was recorded that in November 2020 Indonesia imported vaccines for US $ 13.6 million or the equivalent of Rp.189 billion (exchange rate of Rp.13,903). This realization excludes the import of the new COVID-19 vaccine which arrived in early December 2020.

The vaccine itself is included in one of the imported commodities with the classification code HS30022090. As is known, the import of the Sinovac-type COVID-19 vaccine from China occurred in December 2020 with a total of 1.2 million doses.

Allegedly, the increase in the value of vaccine imports in January 2021 was due to the government's corona vaccine procurement program.