VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Bio Farma President Director Honesti Basyir (seated left) signed a Preliminary Agreement of Purchase and Supply of Bulk Production of COVID-19 Vaccine with Sinovac General Manager Gao Xiang (seated right) as Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir, who is also Chief of the Committee for the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery (KPEN), and Foreign Minister Retno L. Marsudi looked on in Hainan, China, on August 20, 2020. ANTARA/HO-Kementerian BUMN.

Indonesian vaccine producer PT Bio Farma looks set to receive 50 million doses of ready-to-fill (RTF) concentrate from China's pharmaceutical firm, Sinovac Biotech Ltd., during November 2020-March 2021 period for bulk production of COVID-19 vaccine.

To this end, both sides inked a preliminary agreement on the purchase and supply of the bulk production of COVID-19 vaccine in Hainan, China, on Thursday (August 20).

Under the agreement, Bio Farma will not only process and distribute COVID-19 vaccine but will also receive a technology transfer in the production of the vaccine from Sinovac, Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir, concurrently chief of the Committee for COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery (KPEN), stated.

"During this visit, we would like to ensure the transformation of our health industry. The cooperation between Bio Farma and Sinovac is a win-win cooperation. We highlighted the need to agree on a transfer of knowledge and transfer of technology from Sinovac," he remarked in a press statement released on Friday.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Retno L. Marsudi affirmed that both nations had inked two agreements on August 20, 2020. Under the first agreement, Indonesia will receive an additional supply of bulk COVID-19 vaccine until March 2021. The additional supply will last until the end of 2021.

The agreement is aimed at concurring on the commitment to the bulk supply of up to 50 million doses of vaccine between November 2020 and March 2021, she revealed.

The second agreement is related to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Sinovac and Bio Farma on bulk vaccine capacity commitment in 2021 under which Sinovac will give priority to Bio Farma in the bulk supply of the vaccine until the end of 2021.

"This is quite a long-term cooperation between Bio Farma and Sinovac," she stated.

President Director of Bio Farma Honesti Basyir revealed that his company awaits the first shipment of 10 million bulk doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in November 2020 and another 10 million bulk doses in December 2020.

Another 10 million bulk doses of vaccine will be shipped in each of the first three months of 2021. In total, Bio Farma will receive 50 million bulk doses of COVID-19 vaccine until March 2021, he stated.

"Let us accomplish our big tasks to produce and distribute the vaccine among the Indonesian people immediately," she stated.

Basyir expounded that Bio Farma will not immediately produce the bulk supply of RTF concentrate, received in November 2020, into vaccine, but it will conduct a series of tests on it at the Bio Farma laboratory and register it with the Drug and Food Control Agency (BPOM).

Bio Farma will later conduct filling and packaging processes to turn it into the end product that will also carry the components of local content and technology transfer in the field of fill/finish bulk.  (ANTARA)