Eijkman: Red And White Vaccine Expected To Be Used From Mid-2022

Illustration (Photo by Hakan Nural on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Head of the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology Amin Soebandrio said that the Merah Putih vaccine, a domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine, is expected to be used in mid-2022. currently still in various processes," Amin said when contacted by Antara, in Jakarta, Monday, August 16. President Joko Widodo in his speech at the MPR Annual Session and the Joint Session of the DPR and DPD stated that the problem of providing vaccines, drugs and medical devices in an effort to overcome COVID-19 must be solved immediately. Amin said that the development of the Merah Putih vaccine is part of efforts to achieve independence in meeting the needs of the COVID-19 vaccine.

He said that for the first time Indonesia made a vaccine from scratch in the development of the Red and White vaccine, so the process was not as fast as the big vaccine companies that have been making and producing vaccines for a long time. "Indeed, we anticipate about 18 to 24 months to make the vaccine. It can't be as fast as the big vaccine companies, which have started a long time ago," he said. Amin said, according to calculations, the process of developing the Merah Putih vaccine until the vaccine could be used would take about two years. According to him, 90 percent of research and development activities The development of the Red and White vaccine seeds has been completed. "Currently we are in the transition process. Since last January we have been working with Bio Farma to scale up, optimize, and increase yield or productivity," Amin said. Red and White vaccines must also go through a testing process to determine know the level of safety and efficacy as well as halal.