VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia has inked supply deals with AstraZeneca and Novavax for obtaining a total of 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi stated on Wednesday.

"Today, we have just secured the supply of as many as 50 million doses each from AstraZeneca and Novavax," Marsudi stated during a virtual press conference held after the signing.

No further details are available as to when the British and US firms will commence the shipment of their vaccines.

In the meantime, the COVID-19 vaccine from Chinese Sinovac, which had earlier secured a deal with Indonesia, is scheduled to arrive here on Thursday (Dec 31) of another 1.8 million doses, Marsudi remarked.

"This arrival marks a total of three million doses of Sinovac's vaccine in Indonesia," she stated, noting that the first batch of 1.2 million doses of the vaccine had arrived in Indonesia in early December.

However, Indonesia also maintains multilateral cooperation on vaccine procurement through the World Health Organization-initiated COVAX-AMC (Advance Market Commitment) that allows the country to secure vaccines for some three to 20 percent of its total population.

Apart from domestic procurement, Indonesia is also upholding the principle of equitable access for the COVID-19 vaccine globally, as the government contributes through the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

"These all things demonstrate that Indonesia is not only thinking about our need but rather also contributing to make any other countries have equal access to the vaccine," Marsudi emphasized. (Antaranews)