Hopefully, on August 17, 2022 (Independence Day), Indonesia will have a COVID-19 vaccine made in Indonesia, an offering for Indonesia to break the chain of COVID-19.
Bandung (ANTARA) - State-owned pharmaceutical firm PT Bio Farma is seeking to complete the third-phase clinical trials of the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) COVID-19 Vaccine as an Independence Day gift for Indonesia.

Bio Farma president director Honesti Basyir said that his company has registered the results of the third phase of the clinical trial as part of the process for obtaining an emergency-use authorization (EUA) from the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM).

“Hopefully, on August 17, 2022 (Independence Day), Indonesia will have a COVID-19 vaccine made in Indonesia, an offering for Indonesia to break the chain of COVID-19," Basyir remarked in Bandung on Monday.

According to him, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has prepared a special name for the SOEs COVID-19 Vaccine.

Bio Farma is currently in the process of registering the name with the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights (HKI) of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.

An audit of the Bio Farma vaccine has been completed by the Institute for the Study of Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics of the Indonesian Ulema Council (LPPOM MUI), Basyir informed. So, the vaccine is expected to receive halal certification in the near future.

Related news: No adverse events at COVID vaccine trials so far: Bio Farma

Meanwhile, the medical advisor to the SOEs COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Test Team, Professor Soedjatmiko, said the clinical trial needs to be carried out to prove that the COVID-19 vaccine made by Bio Farma is safe and has the ability to increase antibody levels.

"We hope that the vaccine is efficient to protect people from severe symptoms and death due to COVID-19 according to the standard set by BPOM," he remarked.

Soedjatmiko said that the most common effects after vaccination, or post-immunization adverse events (KIPI) from the vaccine, are localized pain around the injection site and mild muscle pain.

There is also a possibility of fever after injection, which would subside on its own one or two days after vaccination, he added.

Soedjatmiko said he hopes that with the development of Bio Farma’s COVID-19 vaccine, in the future, Indonesia will no longer need to import vaccines from other countries. Besides being cheaper, domestically made vaccines can help the nation save on foreign exchange reserves, and they can even be exported to other countries.

Related news: Pre-clinical trial of Merah Putih Vaccine to commence July-end 2022
Related news: SOE vaccine supports strengthening of health resilience: Ministry





Translator: Bagus Ahmad R, Resinta S
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2022