There needs to be national independence to guarantee the need for vaccines in the country.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – Head of the Institute for Molecular Biology Eijkman Amin Soebandrio said capacity vaccine production it is estimated that the world is only able to meet the needs of the Covid-19 vaccine for half or 50 percent of the world’s total population. “Many countries are unable or willing to produce their own vaccines due to economic considerations and so on,” said Amin in a virtual seminar on Harmonization of the Triple Helix: Independence and Sovereignty of National Innovation Products, Jakarta, Thursday (5/11).
With such conditions of world vaccine production capacity, there needs to be independence of the Indonesian nation to ensure the fulfillment of domestic vaccine needs. Indonesia with a population of around 260 million will certainly face problems if it only relies on vaccines from outside.
To create herd immunity against Covid-19 alone, it is necessary that around 70 percent of Indonesia’s population must be given vaccines. If 70 percent of Indonesia’s population is 175 million people, 350 million vaccines are needed because two doses of vaccine are needed.
Moreover, if the entire population of Indonesia, which is 260 million people, is given the vaccine, then around 520 million doses of vaccine are needed. If you only rely on vaccines from abroad, what will happen is the “competition” for vaccines.
Therefore, Indonesia must have vaccine independence by producing the Red and White vaccine which is currently being developed by the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology and other research institutes or universities in Indonesia. “We must have the ability to make our own vaccines,” he said.
source: Between
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