Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi announced in a virtual press conference on Thursday, Aug. 20 that a Chinese pharmaceutical company will be supplying up to 40 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to the country from November 2020 to March 2021.

"Priority access" to Chinese vaccine for Covid-19

The announcement was made after a meeting between Retno and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi.

Indonesian daily Jakarta Post reported that the country had secured "priority access" to the vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd via a deal with state-owned Indonesian drugmaker Bio Farma.

Two agreements were signed between the two pharmaceutical companies, of which the first stipulates for Sinovac to start shipping up to 40 million doses of vaccine to Indonesia from November 2020 to March 2021.

The second agreement is a memorandum in which Sinovac will provide priority access to Indonesia's Bio Farma to purchase more vaccine bulk until end-2021.

Last week, Sinovac launched the final segment of its third phase of clinical trials for CoronaVac, the vaccine it has been developing in collaboration with Indonesian scientists and researchers from Bio Farma.

The trial is taking place in Bandung, the provincial capital of West Java, involving 1,620 patient volunteers from the region.

At least 147,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Indonesia

The vaccine deal comes as Indonesia continues to struggle with rising cases of infection. The country has officially tallied at least 147,000 confirmed cases.

While Indonesia has officially reported roughly 6,500 deaths, Reuters estimated that the death toll is three times higher, including those who died with acute symptoms of the virus but were not tested.

Indonesia has also been urged by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to test more suspected patients, Jakarta Post reported in July 2020.

Around 17 per cent of people tested in Indonesia turn out to be positive, Reuters reported.

According to the WHO, figures above five per cent would signal that an outbreak is no longer in control.

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