VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 2 - The Ministry of Research and Technology and the Ministry of Health have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work together on developing Indonesia's indigenous Red and White vaccine.

"I warmly welcome the collaboration with the Ministry of Health, both in the advanced phase of the Red and White vaccine (development), especially preclinical and clinical trials, as well as support for the current national vaccination program," Minister of Research and Technology and head of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Bambang PS Brodjonegoro, said during the One Year Commemoration of the COVID-19 Pandemic, held virtually in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Two MoUs were signed during the event. The first was inked between the Minister of Research and Technology and the Minister of Health, represented by Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono and involves research and development cooperation for the Red and White vaccine development.

The second MoU was signed between the secretary of the Ministry of Research and Technology / Main Secretary of BRIN, Mego Pinandito, and head of the Health Research and Development Agency of the Health Ministry, Slamet, and involves the implementation of research and innovation for the Red and White vaccine.

Brodjonegoro said the MoUs are a form of collaboration for supporting the acceleration of the Red and White vaccine's development to help the nation achieve vaccine self-sufficiency.

"The key is collaboration. Without collaboration, it is practically impossible to defeat this pandemic called COVID-19," he added.

According to him, the Red and White Vaccine is being developed through collaboration to ensure there is coordination between the various parties involved in the process.

"There must be collaboration between all parties who do have the same goal, so I also invite the Health Research and Development Agency to collaborate more closely in the research and innovation activities for COVID-19,” the minister said.

In the current pandemic situation, there should be no competition to show who is better, instead there should be unity and optimization of all resources for fighting the common enemy, namely COVID-19, he remarked. (Antaranews)