Indonesia Trying To Find A Vaccine For COVID-19, Production Targeted At The End Of 2020

Scientist illustration. (geralt / Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Muhadjir Effendy emphasized that Indonesia has a target of producing the COVID-19 vaccine.

This target arises because of the country's desire to be independent in facing the COVID-19 outbreak by not relying on imported vaccines from other countries.

"Regarding vaccines, Indonesia must be independent. Indonesia's target is to produce it by the end of this year," Muhadjir said after holding a limited meeting with President Jokowi, Thursday, June 4.

To achieve this target, the former Minister of Education and Culture said that President Jokowi instructed researchers to conduct research in order to find the right vaccine formula that Indonesians could use.

Moreover, the government is sure that if a country finds a vaccine it is unlikely that it will immediately be exported abroad. Because, they will use it first for their own community. "There are 147 parties in the world who are moving to prepare vaccines," said Muhadjir.

"But they will first be used for their own needs. While we have 270 million people, so it is impossible to rely on imports. So we must be ready to do vaccine research for Indonesia itself," he said.

LBM Eikjman leads vaccine research

Minister of Research and Technology / Head of National Agency for Research and Innovation Bambang Brodjonegoro said that the search for a vaccine to stop the spread of COVID-19 continues.

He said the Eikjman Institute for Molecular Biology (LBM) was a leader in vaccine research carried out by the Research and Innovation Consortium on COVID-19. The consortium's activities, continued Bambang, were financed by the Ministry of Research and Technology / National Agency for Research and Innovation.

"The latest development, they have added from three to seven categories but it turns out that the three (strains) of us are still included in the others so it turns out that the virus from Indonesia is still recognized first. Why is this important because if we make a vaccine, the vaccine must be able to answer transmission. local in Indonesia, "said Bambang.

He explained that currently, Indonesia needs to make a special vaccine that is different from vaccines in other countries. Because, there are three types or strains of the COVID-19 virus that have spread in the country but have not entered the Global Initiative on Shating All Influenza Data (GISAID).

From his calculations, Bambang believes that the scientists in the consortium will succeed in producing vaccine seeds by the end of this year. However, unlike Muhadjir, he said that a new mass vaccine will be produced next year.

However, he agreed that the vaccine must be produced by Indonesia. Given the large population. "For Indonesia, we have 260 million (population) so we make vaccines between half and two thirds of the population that must be vaccinated. That means the vaccine needed is between 130 and 170 million," said Bambang.

"That's not counting the booster. If we get vaccinated, that's not necessarily our immune system will appear, so there must be a booster until the immune system appears. Of course everyone is different, there are vaccines that appear immediately. Some don't show up. "He concluded.