Bio Farma Collaborates With Himbara And Large Private Banks To Secure Vaccine Funding

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The supply of the COVID-19 vaccine in the world is very limited, while the demand for it is very high. To secure vaccine supplies, PT Bio Farma (Persero) is partnering with banks to get funding to bring the COVID-19 vaccine into the country.

As for banks that have collaborated with the company to purchase bulk imports of COVID-19 vaccines from Sinovac, China, namely HIMBARA and private banks (Mandiri, BRI, BNI, BTN, Maybank, Danamon, and HSBC).

Bio Farma's spokesperson and corporate secretary, Bambang Heriyanto, said that in the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole world is trying to provide vaccines for the people. The goal is to reduce the number of transmissions or spread of COVID-19.

Therefore, said Bambang, the company needed funding to secure vaccines for all Indonesians. The type of funding required is a revolving working capital financing facility in US dollars and a sub-limit trade financing facility on a clean basis scheme.

"To be able to bring in these vaccines, Bio Farma certainly needs working capital to purchase the bulk import of the COVID-19 vaccine from Sinovac which is obtained from financial third sources (banking)", he said, in a written statement, Tuesday, February 16.

Bambang said that the partnership between Maybank Indonesia and the state-owned pharmaceutical product producer and distributor PT Bio Farma (Persero) was carried out through the Maybank Indonesia sharia business unit by providing sharia-based financing facilities to Bio Farma for its central role in tackling COVID-19 through the procurement of vaccines.

Indonesia through diplomacy is one of the fastest countries to get access to the COVID-19 vaccine from various producers, both bilaterally and through Multilateral (COVAX).

Bambang explained thatBio Farma as a State-Owned Enterprise (BUMN) and the only vaccine producer in Indonesia plans to produce the COVID-19 vaccine, in order to meet the government's supply of COVID-19 vaccines for vaccination nationally and as an initial stage of vaccine procurement obtained from Sinovac.

The procurement of vaccines for the initial stage was followed up by the signing of an MoU between Bio Farma and Sinovac as the bulk provider and the COVID-19 vaccine in China on August 20, 2020, witnessed directly by State-owned enterprises (BUMN) Minister Erick Thohir, and Foreign Minister Retno L. Marsudi, as well as the signing of Local Manufacturing Agreement of COVID-19 Vaccine on September 28, 2020.

"Currently, the number of COVID-19 vaccine producers in the world is very limited, while the demand for COVID-19 vaccines exceeds the supply, therefore, we need a supply of vaccines from various sources", he said.

For the procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine, the government has given a mandate to Bio Farma which is based on the Presidential Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 99 of 2020 and Regulation of the Minister of Health (Permenkes) number HK.01.07/MENKES/12758/2020 concerning the Determination of Vaccines for the Implementation of Coronavirus Vaccinations Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Through the Regulation of the Minister of Health, the COVID-19 vaccine will be obtained from the production of PT Bio Farma (Persero), AstraZeneca, China National Pharmaceutical Group Corporation (Sinopharm), Moderna, Pfizer Inc., and BioNTech and Sinovac Life Sciences Co., Ltd and Novavax.

"The distribution will be carried out by Pharmaceutical SOEs Holding, such as Bio Farma, Kimia Farma, and Indofarma", he said.