50 Million Pfizer Vaccines Coming Soon To Indonesia

ILLUSTRATION/UNSPLASH

JAKARTA - Health Minister, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, said 50 million US-made Pfizer vaccines will soon arrive in Indonesia.

This was agreed in the Ministry of Health's collaboration with Pfizer-BioNTech in the provision of a vaccine called 162b2 throughout 2021.

Minister of Health Budi said he welcomed the cooperation in the procurement of Pfizer vaccines in Indonesia. The vaccine is one of the COVID-19 vaccines used for the accelerated vaccination program in Indonesia.

"I thank you for your cooperation in helping to meet the needs of the COVID-19 vaccine in Indonesia. With the increase in the stock of 50 million doses of the Pfizer brand of vaccine, it is hoped that it will accelerate the implementation of vaccinations in Indonesia", Budi said in a written statement, Wednesday, July 14.

Along with the planned arrival of the Pfizer vaccine, Budi said the vaccine could be carried out after the Food and Drug Administration (BPOM) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA).

"The use of vaccines for the implementation of COVID-19 vaccination can only be done after obtaining a distribution permit or approval for use in an emergency period from the POM", said Budi.

Previously, Indonesia had received 137,611,540 doses of vaccine from various brands, such as Sinovac, Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, and Moderna. If the Pfizer vaccine is added later, the total vaccine will be around 187 million doses.

Meanwhile, the Country Manager of PT Pfizer Indonesia Stephen Leung appreciated the cooperation that had been established between his party, BioNTech, and the Indonesian Ministry of Health.

"This agreement is an important step to present a COVID-19 vaccine to protect public health in Indonesia, restore the economy, and accelerate the return of normal life for the people of Indonesia", said Stephen.

Meanwhile, BioNTech's Chief Business and Chief Commercial Officer, Sean Marett, thanked the Indonesian government for its support and confidence in its ability to develop a vaccine that is believed to be able to overcome the threat of this global pandemic.

"Our goal is to provide an acceptable and effective supply of COVID-19 vaccine to as many people as possible around the world, as quickly as possible", Marett said.