"Production of vaccine for COVID-19 is adjusted with the capacity in Bio Farma. That actually follows what is required by the Health Ministry," Head of Bio Farma's Corporate Communication Department Iwan Setiawan stated here, Friday.
As part of State-owned Enterprises (SOEs), PT Bio Farma is committed to prioritizing meeting the domestic vaccine production needs that are adjusted with the demand from the Health Ministry.
Until 2022, over five million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine product IndoVac, produced at Bio Farma's facility, Bandung, West Java, had been ordered and distributed for the vaccination program in regions.
IndoVac had also obtained Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the National Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) for the primary dose and booster 1 and 2 doses for the general public aged 18 years and above.
PT Bio Farma has a vaccine production capacity reaching 3.2 billion doses per year, with 70 percent of them being used for the production of polio vaccine that had been exported to 135 countries.
The other 30 percent of the production facilities are used to manufacture various other vaccines, including IndoVac.
Throughout this time, 70 percent of the world's polio vaccines came from Bio Farma, he pointed out.
Indonesia started to transition from the health emergency status due to the COVID-19 phase by taking long-term mitigatory steps after the disease's infection was declared to be under control as per May 5, 2023.
The revocation of the global health emergency status does not mean that COVID-19 is no longer a health threat, as the virus can still linger on in society for extended periods of time.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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