"Today, the BPOM has announced the issuance of EUA for locally-made COVID-19 vaccine with the name InaVac," BPOM head Penny K. Lukito said at a press conference on the EUA issuance for InaVac here on Friday.
She informed that the vaccine based on an inactivated virus platform has been developed by researchers from Airlangga University (Unair) and is being produced by PT Biotis Pharmaceutical Indonesia at its production facility in Gunung Sindur, Bogor District, West Java.
The vaccine has been approved for use as a primary vaccine for people aged 18 and above for boosting immunity levels.
The first and second doses of the vaccine need to be provided at an interval of 28 days and the vaccine’s efficacy is equivalent to the CoronaVac vaccine's.
According to Lukito, the vaccine has been tested for several recent COVID-19 variants.
The BPOM head lauded the expert team of the National Committee for COVID-19 Vaccine Research and the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI) for their cooperation in conducting research on the InaVac vaccine for public use.
She noted that the production of InaVac is already underway and will be followed by an initial launch for public use in the near future.
She further said that the vaccine’s distribution will be under the Ministry of Health's authority because it will be purchased and procured by the government.
President Director of PT Biotis Pharmaceutical Indonesia FX Sudirman said that the first phase production of the InaVac vaccine for primary dose vaccinations will reach 5 million doses by the end of 2022.
"The expectation of the Ministry of Health is that in November 2022, the vaccine can be used because the country's vaccine stock is currently limited," he added.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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