“Hopefully, in the fourth quarter of 2021, the Red and White vaccine can be distributed for the public," Bambang said here on Friday.
After the authorities hand over the vaccine seeds to state-run vaccine producer PT Bio Farma in the first quarter of 2021, the vaccine will need to clear several phases before it can be used for immunization, the minister informed.
The vaccine scaling-up would be followed by three phases of clinical tests and an evaluation by the Drug and Food Control Agency (BPOM), he said.
Mass production of the vaccine for the immunization program can be started only after the BPOM issues a distribution license, he added.
Currently, the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology has made the most progress in the development of the Red and White vaccine.
Eijkman has developed the vaccine using a recombinant protein sub-unit platform. The antibodies produced after the vaccine is administered will work to prevent the virus from attaching to human cells and the release of viral genetic material into human cells, it said.
Eijkman has used the strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus that is responsible for COVID-19 circulating in Indonesia as the basis for genetic information for the development of the Red and White vaccine. (INE)
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EDITED BY INE
Translator: Martha Herlinawati S, Sri Hary
Editor: Suharto
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