Indonesia permits private COVID-19 vaccination scheme

A Bio Farma official told the news conference that it was in talks with Moderna Inc on securing vaccines for the private scheme, a day after a minister said two million doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine had been lined up.

Vaccines for both programmes require an approval for emergency use issued by the country's food and drug agency.

A minister said this week that more than 6,600 companies had signed up for the private scheme.

Jahja Setiaatmadja, president director of Bank Central Asia , Indonesia’s biggest bank by market value, told Reuters the lender would like to secure up to 70,000 doses.

The price ceiling for vaccines will be decided by the health minister, the regulation said.

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Olivia Herlinda, policy director at the Center for Indonesia's Strategic Development Initiative, a public health NGO, said the scheme could risk corruption and commercialisation and came as vaccines remained scarce.

"Private vaccination risks missing the target and opening an imbalance of access of vaccines for some groups," she said.

The government has denied risks of commercialisation and said it would work with the country's anti-graft agency during the operation's rollout.