"Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we all have learned that readiness in vaccine production and availability have become crucial to end the pandemic," president director of Bio Farma, Honesti Basyir, said in a written statement issued on Wednesday.
According to Basyir, the collaboration between Bio Farma and CEPI is crucial not only for the interests of the industry but also for the nation and state.
CEPI is an innovative global partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organizations who are working to develop vaccines in preparation for pandemics and epidemics.
Basyir said that Bio Farma is ready to implement the "100 days mission" program of CEPI.
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The program is considered very useful for Indonesia and the Southeast Asia region in terms of strengthening national resilience in the health sector. The program is also deemed beneficial for Bio Farma's interest in collaborating in the development of mRNA-based vaccine technology.
Executive director for research and development at CEPI, Melanie Saville, lauded Bio Farma, which has been consistent in supplying vaccine products to the world in the past 25 years.
As a holding company for pharmaceutical SOEs, Bio Farma has been assigned the duty to fulfill domestic vaccine needs by the government.
Bio Farma's products have also been exported to more than 150 countries, including 53 member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and 49 African countries, with a capacity of up to 3.2 billion doses per year.
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Translator: Lia Wanadriani, Raka Adji
Editor: Suharto
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