Menristek: Eijkman Vaccine Emergency Permit And LIPI Estimated Early 2022

Illustration of the COVID-19 vaccine (Pixabay / Torstensimon)

JAKARTA - Minister of Research and Technology (Menristek) Bambang Brodjonegoro estimates that the issuance of emergency permits and mass production of the COVID-19 vaccine from the Eijkman Institute of Molecular Biology and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in January 2022.

Meanwhile, the vaccine developed by Airlangga University with the adenovirus platform is targeted for September 2021.

"Clinical trials and processing will be the speed of Bio Farma which is supported by BPOM. Our task is to provide vaccine seeds to PT Bio Farma as quickly as possible," said Bambang as quoted by Antara, Tuesday, January 19.

Apart from PT Bio Farma, the Red and White Vaccine is also being developed by inviting a number of private companies to help accelerate the birth of the vaccine.

According to Bambang, the Red and White Vaccine is still needed even though Indonesia has bought vaccines from other countries. This departs from several considerations, including, no one knows how long the virus will endure after being vaccinated.

"If the immune system has been lost but the COVID-19 virus is still there, it is necessary to do revaccination. So Indonesia still needs independence to anticipate the need for the vaccine," he explained.

Another consideration is the possibility of mutations from the COVID-19 virus. Until now, the mutations have not or do not interfere with the performance of the existing COVID-19 vaccine. But it is not yet known whether future mutations necessitate a change in the composition of the vaccine.

"Therefore, the development of the Red and White Vaccine will continue to be encouraged so that it is expected to be able to overcome these two things," he said.

It is also hoped that the development of national vaccine research can anticipate the possibility of a pandemic or other infectious disease that could occur in the future.

Bambang said there are 6 institutions that are developing the COVID-19 Red and White Vaccine with different platforms. Namely, the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, LIPI, University of Indonesia, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Airlangga University and Gadjah Mada University.

The development of the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology is estimated that in March 2021 the vaccine seeds can be given to PT Biofarma for further clinical trials.

For LIPI, it is estimated that in May 2021, data processing, reporting and patent drafts will be carried out.

It is estimated that the University of Indonesia by mid-2021 will start making CHO cells (mammalian cells). For the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) it is estimated that in December 2021 it will enter into an immunogenicity test (pre-clinical trial) in mice.

Furthermore, Universitas Airlangga (Unair) is expected to produce synthetic adenovirus in February 2020, mid-and late-2021 clinical trials. Meanwhile, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in 2021 is still in the laboratory research stage.