Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – The Indonesian Minister for State-Owned Enterprises and the Chief Executive of the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery, Erick Thohir, has confirmed that Bio Farma is able to produce 250 million doses of vaccine by the end of this year.

Erick Thohir made the confirmation when visiting laboratory and production facilities of Bio Farma in Bandung, West Java on Tuesday (Aug 4).

Bio Farma is the national holding company in the pharmaceutical sector based in Bandung, West Java province.

During the visit, the minister also confirmed the readiness of the phase 3 clinical trial for the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which is a collaboration between Indonesia and the Chinese vaccine producer, Sinovac.

"Today I make sure that Bio Farma is now ready to produce 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine per year and at the end of the year it is ready to produce 250 million doses per year," the minister said.

He pointed out that one of the main focuses of the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery is to multiply the availability of vaccines and medical therapies which are crucial in tackling the pandemic.

Bio Farma has been producing vaccines since 1890 and is trusted by more than 150 countries to produce 15 types of vaccines.

Among the company’s vaccine products are for polio, measles, hepatitis B, and BIO SAVE sera for snake bites.

Bio Farma’s products have been certified halal (permissible according to the Islamic Law), and are used in several Arab countries.

Reporting by Indonesia Window