Bio Farma Becomes The Sole Importer Of Vaccines: Deviation Mitigation Efforts

Illustration (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for COVID-19 Vaccination from the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Siti Nadia Tarmizi explained the reason for the government to appoint PT Bio Farma as the sole importer of vaccines that will be used for the mutual cooperation vaccination program.

According to him, this step was taken as an effort to prevent irregularities that might occur.

"For efforts to mitigate irregularities, of course PT Bio Farma will now carry out the sole importer company," Nadia said in a press conference broadcast on the YouTube account of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Friday, February 26.

This decision was taken after the Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin visited the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for a consultation.

Some time ago, Minister of Health Budi had indeed visited the KPK's Red and White House to ask for assistance from the anti-graft agency regarding the COVID-19 vaccination program in order to break the chain of transmission of the virus in the community.

Previously reported, the government has officially opened the COVID-19 vaccination program independently, which is charged to the private sector or through independent channels. This is stated in the Minister of Health Regulation Number 10 of 2021 concerning the Implementation of Vaccinations in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Through this regulation, the independent vaccination program is called mutual vaccination. Based on Article 3 Paragraph 5 of this Permenkes, it is stated that vaccination is given to employees / female employees, families, and other individuals free of charge.

This means that companies implementing this program must provide the COVID-19 vaccine for free to employees and their families.

Meanwhile, to meet the need for mutual vaccination, PT Bio Farma's spokesman for COVID-19 vaccination, Bambang Heriyanto, said that currently his party is lobbying Sinopharm vaccine production companies from China and Moderna from the United States to supply an independent vaccine program, namely the mutual cooperation vaccine.

Bambang said the government's decision to look at the Sinopharm and Moderna brand vaccines was because these two types of vaccines had not been used in the ongoing national vaccination program.

"Currently, Bio Farma has begun to explore and discuss vaccine supply with the principle that it must be different from the vaccine program," Bambang said in a YouTube broadcast by the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Friday, February 26.