Indonesian President Joko Widodo said over the last three months, the country has been developing a coronavirus vaccine with brand Merah Putih, which is hoped to be completed by mid-2021.

President Joko Widodo (left) and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir (second right) visit state-owned drugmaker Bio Pharma's plant in Bandung, West Java, on 11 August (Photo: https://www.thejakartapost.com/)

The vaccine is jointly developed by Indonesia's state-owned pharmaceutical holding company PT Bio Farma and China-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech and other stakeholders from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Republic of Korea (RoK), the President told reporters during his working visit to West Java province on 11 August.

On 21 July, a total of 2,400 doses of vaccine from Sinovac were handed over to Bio Farma for the trial of the third phase.

According to Honesti Basyir, Bio Farma CEO, the clinical trial of the vaccine is scheduled to run for six months, so it is targeted to be completed in January 2021.

If the clinical trial goes well, Bio Farma will produce it in the first quarter of 2021, he said, adding that the company has prepared production facilities with a maximum production capacity of 250 million doses per year.

Along with the vaccine development, Bio Farma has also conducted four other research to respond to the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including producing realtime polymerase chain reaction, convalescent plasma therapy, producing mobile BSL 3 laboratories, and manufacturing viral transport media.

Source: VNA