There Are Requirements That Erick Thohir Cannot Fulfill To Volunteer For The COVID-19 Vaccine

Minister of BUMN, Erick Thohir. (Photo: Ministry of BUMN)

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Arya Sinulingga clarified the statement made by BUMN Minister Erick Thohir who was reluctant to volunteer for the COVID-19 vaccine trial.

Arya said, there was one of the requirements to become a vaccine volunteer that Erick couldn't fulfill. Under these conditions, volunteers must reside in Bandung. In addition, volunteers may not leave the Bandung area until the research is complete.

"The requirement to become a volunteer is that there is a domicile in Bandung Raya and a prohibition on leaving the research area until the research is complete. This cannot be fulfilled by residents outside Bandung, including Minister Erick Thohir," said Arya in his statement, Sunday, August 9.

Even so, Arya said Erick would continue to drive various efforts to accelerate the handling of COVID-19, including the development and collaboration of vaccine production and COVID-19 healing therapy in Indonesia.

PT Bio Farma (Persero) as the holding of a pharmaceutical BUMN is currently conducting phase III clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine from Sinovac, a company from China. Later, the vaccine will be injected into 1,620 volunteers.

Until now, the research team is still gathering volunteers for the clinical trial of this third phase vaccine. The clinical trial process for the vaccine will be carried out on August 11 in Bandung.

On August 11, the clinical trial of the vaccine was carried out at the Unpad Teaching Hospital, followed by five other locations that became clinical trial locations. Volunteers will have their health checked first before trying the vaccine.

"Residents of Bandung Raya who meet the criteria can participate and be part of the historic journey of vaccines, which are expected to be present in this country," said Arya.

As previously reported, BUMN Minister Erick Thohir admitted that he was reluctant to become one of the volunteers for the corona virus vaccine trial. Erick reasoned that he wanted to put people who meet the requirements as volunteers. However, he emphasized that this was not because he did not want to be injected with a vaccine during the trial period.

"If I'm not ethical, it's better to volunteer according to the conditions that have been determined. It's not that you don't want to be injected, huh. As the Minister of BUMN, get injections in the back, let the community first and then me. But it's not for fear of being injected," said Erick.