VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Health Ministry has started to gradually allocate Sinovac vaccines for the booster vaccination program to entire regions in response to a recent Supreme Court ruling.

In a short message on Tuesday, the ministry's spokesperson, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that the Sinovac booster allocation is being adjusted based on the availability of vaccine stocks at state-owned vaccine manufacturer PT Bio Farma's facilities.

The total number of doses available is pegged at five to seven million.

"The allocation to entire regions depends on the demand from participants there," Tarmizi informed.

The ministry is also prioritizing Sinovac vaccine allocation for the COVID-19 vaccination program targeting children aged 6–11 years and for second dose vaccinations of children aged 12 years and above.

The decision has been stipulated in the Health Ministry Circulation Letter No. SR02.06/II/266/2022 on Following Up COVID-19 Vaccination for Children Aged 6–11 Years and Sinovac Vaccine Utilization.

The utilization of Sinovac vaccines for booster vaccinations will reduce the allocation for children’s vaccination, Tarmizi informed.

"The allocation will decrease, but we will strive to add more supply through COVAX or other bilateral agreements," she said.

Earlier, the Supreme Court granted the judicial review of Presidential Regulation No. 99 of 2020 on Vaccine Procurement and Vaccination for COVID-19 Pandemic Mitigation, Article 2, proposed by the Indonesian Muslim Consumer Foundation (YKMI).

The court's decision on COVID-19 vaccines obliges the government to provide halal vaccines for Muslims.

Sinovac vaccine is one of the vaccine types in Indonesia that has been declared halal by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

Meanwhile, for the mutual assistance vaccination mechanism, the Sinopharm vaccine has also been declared halal by MUI.

So far, the government has obtained emergency-use authorization for six vaccines from the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM).

The vaccines comprise Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Janssen, and Sinopharm. (Antaranews)