BUMN Vaccines Ready To Produce 120 Million Doses, Priority For Children And Boosters

President Director of Bio Farma Honesti Basyir. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Bio Farma President Director Honesti Basyir said the BUMN COVID-19 vaccine, which is currently in the third phase of clinical trials, will be prioritized for children and become a booster or complementary vaccine.

"We are conducting clinical trials for primary vaccines one and two, but because the number of vaccinations is large enough, it is possible that this vaccine is for boosters and children," Honesti said, quoted from Antara, Thursday, June 9. vaccines that are licensed to be given to children. The third phase clinical trial of the BUMN vaccine will be given to 4,050 subjects with an age limit of 18 years to 70 years. If the clinical trial goes well and gets an emergency use authorization (EUA), then Bio Farma will start producing the vaccine in July 2022. "We have prepared a fairly large production capacity where for this BUMN Vaccine we have prepared a capacity of 120 million doses per year," Honesti said. Meanwhile, the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir said that the government is pushing for transformation in state-owned companies, one of which is Bio Farma so that they can be more competitive.

He wants the transformation carried out by SOEs to make Indonesia less poor towards science and the modern health industry so that domestic health can be sovereign. "This pandemic will repeat itself and human history proves it. I really hope this collaboration will continue because of our transformation in BUMN is not finished yet," said Erick.

Currently, the Ministry of SOEs is pushing for a breakthrough so that herbal health becomes an alternative to reduce dependence on medicinal raw materials.

"Not only Indonesia, but also the world, because we can't allow our nation to have continuous medical treatment abroad. Because this is the transformation we hope God willing, we will continue to push," said Erick.