Health Minister Nila F. Moeloek also has said that measles and rubella (MR) vaccine could still be used although without halal certificate from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).
Bio Farma Corporate Secretary Bambang Heriyanto said on the weekend, SII is the only supplier of MR vaccine meeting the quality standard of the World Health Organization (WHO) to protect children from viruses of measles and rubella in the world.
MR vaccine is given for the immunization of children from nine to less than 15 years in age.
Bambang said PT Bio Farma as a vaccine producer, is still in the phase of doing a research to produce halal MR vaccine. It hopes to be able to produce MR vaccine in 2024.
"We are still in the phase of development. We already have vaccine for measles but vaccine for rubella is still in the process of early phase of development," Bambang said.
The MR vaccine produced by the SII have been used in 26 member countries of OIC including Malaysia, Iran, Cameroon and Mozambique, Indonesia, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Kyrgyztan, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
MR vaccines have been exported by India to more than 141 countries including Islamic countries in the world," Bambang said.
He reiterated that the SII is the only supplier of MR vaccine meeting the quality standard of the World Health Organization (WHO) and it has mass produced the vaccine.
More than 1.6 billion dosages of SII`s MR vaccine has been used in the world.
Bambang said there are only two producers of MR vaccine that could supply it to other countries.
China is another large producer of MR vaccine but it has not won the qualification and certificate from WHO to supply it to other countries.
Japan also has produced MR vaccine but only for domestic consumption although the quality has been recognized by WHO.
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Otniel Tamindael
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
