Covid-19: Indonesia announces the start of clinical trials of its vaccine
A woman is vaccinated against Covid-19 on February 8, 2022 (illustration image).
AP - Achmad Ibrahim
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
It is the latest to arrive in the global race for the vaccine against Covid: that of Indonesia, called “Merah Putih”.
While half of the population is not yet fully vaccinated, clinical trials have only just begun in the country.
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With our correspondent in Southeast Asia,
Gabrielle Maréchaux
This is not the first time that the head of the Indonesian Medicines Agency has made such an announcement.
"
We are giving permission for the
'Merah Putih' vaccine
to conduct clinical trials
," she said.
"
Merah Putih
", ie "White and Red", the colors of the Indonesian flag, as if to underline the particularity of this vaccine: it is conceptualized in Indonesia, and for epidemiologist Dicky Budiman, it has a real role to play after the 13 others already authorized in his country.
"
Indonesia is a very populated country, we cannot depend on imports for anti-Covid vaccines, we do not have the resources for that,
" he explains.
And then there is another reason for this need for a national vaccine: the majority of the country is Muslim and for them a halal vaccine is very important, in addition to guaranteeing transparency on the production of the vaccine
”.
However, faced with these challenges,
the Chinese vaccines mainly used
for the moment are encountering a certain mistrust.
For the Minister of Health, this 100% Indonesian vaccine could also have specific uses.
“
We hope that this vaccine can be used for booster doses and also for children over 3 years old
,” she said.
In Indonesia, in particular because of frequent comorbidities, the number of children who have died from Covid-19 has been particularly high since the appearance of the Delta variant.
►Also read: Covid-19: in Indonesia, the sanctions linked to compulsory vaccination are struggling to convince
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Indonesia
Vaccines
Coronavirus
Health and medicine