VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The government built an infrastructure for the procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine to speed up the purchase and delivery of the SARS-CoV-2 anti-virus when it becomes available to the public.

"We have built infrastructure to smooth the process of procurement and delivery of vaccines when the vaccines are available," Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said during a joint work meeting with Commission I of the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Retno did not say further information on the infrastructure for procurement and delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Retno's statement is likely related to the cooperation between Indonesia and the United Nations Children's Fund Organization (UNICEF) on September 16, 2020 on the procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Health Ministry and UNICEF Indonesia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that regulates all stages of the procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine through a joint purchase scheme called the COVAX initiative.

In this cooperation scheme, UNICEF is tasked with coordinating the purchase and delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine from more than 140 countries, one of which is Indonesia. The goal is, each country has equal and affordable access to the SARS-CoV-2 antivirus.

Under the COVAX initiative, the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccine, once available, will be carried out through one door, namely from the UNICEF Procurement Division in Copenhagen, Denmark - one of the largest humanitarian aid procurement facilities in the world.

"UNICEF can order vaccines in large quantities and at lower costs," the UN agency said on its official website.

COVAX or the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility is an initiative established and coordinated by a number of multilateral agencies, namely WHO, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and the Epidemic Preparation Innovation Coalition (CEPI).

In this collaboration, GAVI coordinates the vaccine procurement, while CEPI monitors research and development of vaccine candidates. WHO, through its official website, said that nine COVID-19 vaccine candidates are being evaluated by experts from COVAX.

The complete list of vaccine candidates supported by CEPI, including vaccines made by:

Inovio, US (Clinical Trial I / II);

Moderna, US (Clinical Trial I/II);

CureVac, Germany (Clinical Trial I);

Pasteur Institute / Merck / Themis, France / USA / Austria (Preclinical);

AstraZeneca / University of Oxford, UK and Northern Ireland (Clinical Trial III);

the University of Hong Kong, China (Preclinical);

Novavax, USA (Clinical Trials I / II);

Clover Biopharmaceutical, China (Clinical Trial I);

and the University of Queensland / CSL, Australia (Clinical Trial I).

"When the COVID-19 vaccine is available, Indonesia will probably get a vaccine dose of 20 percent of the total population," Retno said.

She added that the COVID-19 vaccine obtained from multilateral cooperation, including through COVAX, may only be available in 2021. (Antaranews)