Jokowi Finally Answers Behind The Rejection Of Terawan's Nusantara Vaccine

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) finally spoke about the development of the COVID-19 vaccine in Indonesia, especially the Red and White Vaccine and the Nusantara Vaccine. He asked all parties to support two vaccines for the idea of the work of local manufacturers. Jokowi also reminded all vaccine development must go through scientific principles.

Through a video caption uploaded to the Presidential Secretariat YouTube channel, Jokowi invites all parties to support the development of the domestic COVID-19 vaccine, namely the Red and White Vaccine and the Nusantara Vaccine. This is because innovation is the key to the progress of a country, including Indonesia.

"Currently, the vaccines being developed in the country are the Red and White Vaccine and the Nusantara Vaccine which we must continue to support", Jokowi said in his video statement, Friday, March 12.

Research and innovation in the field of vaccines and medicines in the country, he continued, are important things. The reason is that the development of these two things helps the government to accelerate access to the availability of the COVID-19 vaccine for the community.

It's just that, he asked the development of this vaccine to be in accordance with scientific principles. Jokowi said that the Red and White Vaccine and Nusantara Vaccine must also carry out clinical trials that are in accordance with applicable procedures, are open, transparent, and involve many experts.

Later, when all these stages are completed, the government will accelerate the production of vaccine doses. The goal is to meet domestic needs.

"These requirements and views are important to prove that the process of making vaccines prioritizes the element of precaution and can be scientifically accounted for. So that the resulting vaccine is safe and effective in use", he said.

Former Minister of Health Terawan (Source: Antara)

The Red and White Vaccine and the Nusantara Vaccine are two things that are being tried to be developed domestically. The Red and White Vaccine is a group of vaccine candidates developed by a research consortium under the auspices of the Ministry of Research and Technology/National Research and Innovation Agency (Kemenristek/BRIN).

There are seven institutions that are involved in developing this type of vaccine and among them is the Eijkman Institute of Molecular Biology and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

Meanwhile, the Nusantara Vaccine is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by former Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto with scientists from Diponegoro University (Undip), Semarang, in collaboration with PT Rama Emerald Multi Sukses (Rama Pharma) in collaboration with AIVITA Biomedical Inc from California, United States. This vaccine is based on dendritic cells and its development was initiated in late 2020.

Photo illustration of COVID-19 vaccination (Source: Antara)

It's just that, recently, the Nusantara Vaccine is in a polemic. This happened because the Head of the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) Penny Lukito revealed several things in Nusantara Vaccine research, including vaccine research that did not comply with medical standards.

One of the reasons for the emergence of this statement was due to differences in the location of the study with the previous parties who had submitted themselves to the ethics committee. "The fulfillment of the rules of good clinical practice was also not carried out in this study. The ethics committee of the Gatot Subroto Army Hospital, but the implementation of the research is at Dr. Kariadi Hospital", said Penny in a joint meeting with the Commission IX of House of Representatives (DPR), Wednesday, March 10.

In fact, she said, each research team must have an ethics committee in place of the research implementation that is responsible for the implementation and safety of research subjects. Regarding this statement, former Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto also answered.

He answered that he made sure that the vaccine he was developing together with RSUP Dr. Kariadi Semarang, Diponegoro University, was safe to use. "The cell dendritic-based COVID-19 vaccine, which of course is autologous, is individual in nature, of course, is very, very safe", said Terawan.

Is Terawan's Vaccine being treated like a stepchild?

The polemic about the Nusantara Vaccine was also caused by the Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) and the government and considered that the Ministry of Health, BPOM, and Kemenristek/National Agency for Research and Technology gave different treatment to the two types of vaccines that were being developed domestically.

The two vaccines are the Red and White vaccine developed by the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology and the Nusantara vaccine developed by former Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto.

Dewi Asmara, a member of Commission IX from the Golkar Party faction, questioned the government, which seemed slow in responding to the need for the development of the Nusantara vaccine. In fact, Dewi said that the Nusantara vaccine was included in the list of international vaccine development established by WHO.

Raker and RDP Commission IX and Menkes, Menristek, BPOM, Eijkmen and RSUP Researchers (Source: Capture the DPR YouTube screen)

In this case, the government has also budgeted IDR 29 billion for the development of the Nusantara vaccine under the auspices of the Ministry of Health's Health Research and Development Agency. Dewi wonders why the government is too focused on presenting foreign-made vaccines.

In fact, imported vaccines have a fairly complicated distribution system. "For now, we agree that (the arrival) overseas vaccines will be fast. But, we also have to accelerate the Red and White and Nusantara vaccines. What's going on here?", Dewi asked.

"The change of the Minister (of Health) does not mean that the past becomes the past. That is not the work of our country. The leadership of Commission IX has also changed. It does not mean that the previous program did not work", she continued.

Minister of Health Terawan and President Jokowi (Source: BPMI Setpres / Muchlis Jr)

Responding to this, Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono said that the approval of the permit for the implementation of phase II clinical trial of the Nusantara vaccine could be done if BPOM had evaluated the phase I clinical trial.

"Whether this research can be continued in phase two, of course, it can be continued if the phase one evaluation has been approved by BPOM. So, we can do a standing point for legal financing and independent credibility. We will continue to guard and support this legally and well", he said.

Meanwhile, through a written statement, Deputy Chairperson of the House of Representatives Commission IX Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena questioned the support of the Ministry of Health as well as BPOM for the development of Indonesian vaccines.

"The meeting which lasted for 11 hours left many questions for the leadership and members of the IX commission who were physically and virtually present at this meeting. From the beginning of the meeting to the end of the meeting in the form of a special conclusion, the Deputy Minister of Health and the Head of the BPOM were impressed that they did not have the political will to support the Nusantara vaccine", said Melki Laka Lena, Thursday, March 11.

This Golkar politician talked on President Jokowi's attitude and direction to love domestic products. In the case of the Nusantara vaccine, Melki Laka Lena considers Jokowi's wishes not reflected in the responses of the Deputy Minister of Health and the Head of BPOM.

"The Minister of Health, whose permission did not participate in the meeting with the IX commission because he attended the President Jokowi's event in Yogyakarta and Central Java, information on the leadership and members of the IX commission, it turns out that the Minister of Health at the same time in Jakarta was participating in another event and was not present at the meeting with the IX commission, which adds to the question", he continued.

Furthermore, Melki Laka Lena ensured that Commission IX would continue to supervise the follow-up process and at the same time, encourage the BPOM to directly assist UNDIP researchers and Kariadi Hospital. The presence of BPOM directly assisting in the field can speed up and prevent bureaucratization of the process to help speed up the approval of the second phase of clinical trials.