Discussing The Problem Of COVID-19 Vaccine With Chinese Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi: Equal Vaccine Access Must Be Done

Vaccine illustration. (Unsplash / Sam Moqadam)

JAKARTA - In the midst of increasing cases of COVID-19, such as in several European countries and India, producers of the COVID-19 vaccine in these countries have been hit by a policy of prohibiting exports or nationalization of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The European Union and India are known to have implemented a ban on the export of COVID-19 vaccines or stopped the vaccine export program because they want to meet domestic needs as COVID-19 cases increase.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi as co-chairs of the COVAX AMC Engagement Group said that this condition is alarming and affects the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said that these restrictions and prohibitions greatly affect the pace of the supply chain for the supply of vaccines to the world, both through bilateral and multilateral channels.

"If these restrictions and prohibitions continue to occur, it is feared that the longer the world can escape from the pandemic together, the longer the economic recovery can be carried out together", she said in a virtual press conference from Fujian, China, after meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Friday, April 2.

"Therefore, as one of the co-chairs of the COVAX AMC Engagement Group, I have a moral responsibility to continue to call for cooperation so that equal access to vaccines for all countries can be carried out", continued Retno, who was visited by the Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi and Minister of State-Owned Corporation Erick Thohir.

Furthermore, Foreign Minister Retno explained, in her meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Indonesia and China agreed to make efforts to strengthen cooperation, long-term and short-term about vaccines.

For the short term, Indonesia hopes that China will continue to provide support for the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine, by binding commitments and existing schedules.

"Meanwhile, in the long term, Indonesia wants to become a vaccine hub in Southeast Asia. This idea is still in its early stages, but what we are proposing includes cooperation to strengthen vaccine development research, develop raw material industries and increase national vaccine production capacity", she explained.

"All these ideas will be discussed further. But in principle China provides support for this initiative", she added.

Foreign Minister Retno added that vaccine cooperation was also discussed by her during a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Where Russian political support has been given to the development of vaccine cooperation with Indonesia.