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Indovac vaccine approved “as a primary vaccine for adults”

The Indovac vaccine, developed by Indonesia’s state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma and the Texas Children’s Hospital Centre for Vaccine Development at Baylor College of Medicine, has been approved “as a primary vaccine for adults,” according to CNN Indonesia. www.medscape.com/viewarticle/981547?src=wnl_edit_tpal&uac=398271FG&impID=4700521&faf=1

Bio Farma says it will produce 20 million doses of the vaccine in 2022 and 100 million doses by 2024. It has also said it has sought a halal certificate – which would make the vaccine permissible under Islam – from relevant authorities. Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

Bio Farma chief Honesti Basyir said earlier this month that the vaccines were intended to “help reduce the nation’s dependency on imported vaccines,” adding 80% of Indovac is locally-sourced.

Indonesia, which reported one of the highest transmission rates of COVID-19 in the world last year, has used vaccines produced by China’s Sinovac Biotech, Pfizer Inc and BioNTech as well as Moderna Inc.

Bio Farma has said it has also sought an emergency use approval from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Indonesia is also developing another home-grown vaccine called Inavac.

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