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JAKARTA: Indonesia has received 1.2 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine made by China’s Sinovac, authorities said, as the world’s fourth most populous nation struggles to control rising case rates.
The doses arrived in Jakarta on Sunday night on a flight from Beijing, with another 1.8 million expected to be shipped again next month.
Although Chinese regulators have yet to authorize mass distribution of the country’s vaccines, they have approved some advanced candidates for emergency use.
On Monday, the head of Indonesia’s Covid-19 response team, Airlangga Hartarto, said the food and drug agency will examine the first batch of doses, with plans to distribute them to medical workers and other high-risk groups.
The country’s main Muslim clerical body, the Ulema Council of Indonesia (MUI), will also verify the first shipment, officials said, to make sure it meets halal requirements in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.
On Sunday evening, President Joko Widodo welcomed the delivery.
“We are grateful that the vaccine is now available and we can immediately prevent the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak,” he said.
“(But) I have to reiterate, first, that all procedures must be properly followed to ensure public health and safety, and the efficacy of the vaccine,” he added.
In August, Indonesia launched human trials of the jab made by Sinovac, with around 1,600 volunteers participating in the six-month study.
The Indonesian government has paid some 637 billion rupees ($ 45 million) for the three million doses of Sinovac. Another 100,000 more will be delivered by another Chinese company, CanSino.
China has vowed to make its vaccines available as a “global public good” as it seeks to counter global criticism for its early handling of the pandemic.
“We hope that multilateral vaccines [from other countries] it will also start to arrive gradually in 2021, ”Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Monday.
Indonesia has been in talks with other pharmaceutical companies, including UK-based AstraZeneca.
The country is one of the Asian countries most affected by the pandemic, with Covid-19 infections exceeding 575,000 and more than 17,000 deaths.
However, the true scale of the crisis is believed to be much larger, as the country has one of the lowest testing rates in the world.
