Why Pfizer And Moderna Vaccines Have Not Entered Indonesia Yet?

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Pfizer and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine has not yet entered Indonesia. In fact, both brands of this vaccine will be used to support the government's free vaccination program. However, until now there is no certainty when these two vaccines will arrive in the country.

So, what are the obstacles to the entry of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines into Indonesia?

President Director of Bio Farma, Honesti Basyir said there are several challenges in bringing Pfizer vaccines to the country. One of them, both of them provide a condition to be released from responsibility if the vaccine triggers a post-immunization follow-up event (KIPI).

"Regarding Pfizer, this is still a process because there is still a clause from Pfizer that we have not been able to meet all. For example, there is an indemnification clause where they are exempt from all legal responsibilities in the event of a Post-Immunization Follow-up Incident and they request it for a long time," he said at a hearing meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives, Thursday, May 20.

Honesti said his party was trying to negotiate. He is also confident that Pfizer and Moderna will re-evaluate the formulation of the vaccine.

"This is the problem so we have not been able to contract with Pfizer," he explained.

Furthermore, Honesti said the same constraints were also experienced in the Moderna vaccine. He said Moderna also requested the same clause as Pfizer.

"Well until now we are still processing, we hope there may be a solution around June. But we never stopped (negotiating) it. We're still processing with them. But what we are saying is that there is really a binding agreement with Bio Farma," he said.

Based on final data of late-stage clinical trials in the United States (U.S.), Pfizer vaccines have a 95 percent efficacy against COVID-19. This vaccine is 100 percent effective in preventing severe diseases caused by COVID-19. Meanwhile, Moderna vaccine is 94 percent effective against COVID-19 and prevents severe diseases caused by COVID-19.

Earlier, the COVID-19 Vaccination Spokesperson from the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Siti Nadia Tarmizi said Indonesia will welcome novavax and Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in June and July 2021. These two vaccines will be used to vaccinate COVID-19 government programs.

Siti said to meet the needs of domestic vaccines, the government could not rely on only one manufacturer. Therefore, every type of vaccine that has passed the third phase of clinical trials and obtained World Health Organization (WHO) approval can be ensured safe and has benefits.