Bio Farma Targets 13 Million Doses Of Vaccines Ready In The Near Future

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - As many as 10 million vaccines in the form of raw materials have arrived in Indonesia on Tuesday, February 2, 2021. This coming is the fourth stage, completing the previous three.

In December 2021, Indonesia first imported 1.2 million vaccines for COVID-19 from Sinovac, followed in the same month as many as 1.8 million doses of finished vaccines, and in January 2021 as many as 15 million vaccines in the form of raw materials. This effort is to secure the availability of vaccines through bilateral cooperation, for 181 million Indonesians to form 70 percent herd immunity.

PT Bio Farma (Persero) or Bio Farma has been producing the third phase of the Sinovac vaccine raw material since January 14, 2021. The progress of this production process has increased optimism for the vaccination program that has been running until now.

"Hopefully 13 batches can be completed as soon as possible, and 1 batch contains 950 thousand doses, so we have prepared around 13 million doses in the near future. Later, these 13 batches will be tested for quality again by Bio Farma and the Food and Drug Administration. (POM) first to meet the requirements, "said Bio Farma Vaccination Spokesman Bambang Heriyanto, in a written statement received by VOI, Tuesday, February 9.

He expressed this in a Productive Dialogue with the theme "Vaccination of Increasingly Minimized, Pandemic Free Indonesia" organized by the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery (KPCPEN).

"Then, 10 million of the raw materials for Sinovac vaccines that come in the fourth stage will be produced after 15 million of raw materials have been produced. So the production will continue and is expected to be completed by mid-March 2021," added Bambang Heriyanto.

For the distribution of all COVID-19 vaccines, Bio Farma has prepared a track and trace system. It uses a tracking system so that the quality of the vaccines is guaranteed to the recipient.

"Bio Farma provides a system such as a barcode on both the vial and the box, so it can digitally track the vaccine's presence and quality," said Bambang Heriyanto.

Bambang Heriyanto also added that vaccination is not the only tool to overcome a pandemic, because pandemics can be handled in various ways. He also emphasized that vaccines should not make people feel free without maintaining health protocols and a clean lifestyle.