TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) Covid-19 vaccination program spokesperson, Lucia Rizka Andalusia, on Monday denies that the Sinovac vaccine – which Indonesia has purchased – has the lowest quality compared to other vaccine candidates.
“Up until this moment there are no official documents or information from the WHO which compares the immunity responses from 10 candidate vaccines,” wrote Lucia on December 21. “Nor are there any statements suggesting the Sinovac vaccine to be the lowest.”
The statement also clarifies that Indonesia is not the only country that has ordered the vaccine from China as she explained Brazil, Turkey, Chile, Singapore, and the Philippines has placed orders on Sinovac. “Egypt is even negotiating to produce the vaccines domestically.”
The Indonesian Health Ministry’s decree No.9860/2020 named six variants of candidate Covid-19 vaccines that are able to be used in Indonesia which consists of vaccines from BioFarma, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, and Sinovac. The latter is the first to be imported and awaits emergency use authorization (EUA) from the BPOM.
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