Import of Vaccines in Disarray, Vaccination Target Postponed?

The government possibly postpones the COVID-19 vaccination target, which was due in November 2020. The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Pandjaitan, said vaccinations could be delayed because the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) had not approved emergency use authorization (EUA) to a number of vaccines to be imported.

Luhut emphasized that the delay was not because the vaccine was not yet available. "Earlier, President Joko Widodo called me. The [vaccination] plan for the second week of November could not be met, because BPOM cannot issue EUA," he said, Friday (10/23).

In contrast to Luhut, on October 22, 2020, Director General of Disease Control and Prevention from Health Ministry, Achmad Yurianto, said the government had canceled buying 100 million COVID-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca. The decision was because AstraZeneca is not willing to take responsibility if there is a production failure in mid-2021. According to Yuri, the government is also reconsidering buying the CanSino vaccine, after CanSino offered to conduct a phase three clinical trial for the Ad5-nCoV vaccine in Indonesia. "We are perplexed because they have conducted clinical trials and have used [the vaccine] in China, but how come they want another clinical trial [in Indonesia]," said Yuri.