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Indonesia’s state-owned PT Bio Farma has processed the Halal or Shariah compliant certification for its IndoVac Covid-19 vaccines, a recombinant protein subunit vaccine produced from yeast, the company said in a press statement.
The vaccine has passed an audit from the Indonesian Ulema Council Food and Drug Analysis Agency, which reviews the halal aspect of a product, the statement said.
The company expects to get the certificate from the Halal Certification Agency of the Religious Affairs Ministry soon after the Indonesian Food and Drug Administration releases the emergency use authorisation for IndoVac.
Post-necessary permits, PT Bio Farma will produce 20 million doses of the primary series vaccine in the first year before increasing output to 40 million doses in 2023. The production may increase to 100 million doses in 2024, depending on the demand and market need, the statement said.
Bio Farma hopes to capture the export market with IndoVac vaccines.
"We will not only produce them to meet domestic needs, but for the supply of global markets," said Honesti Baasyir, President Director of Bio Farma. "We registered for EUL with the World Health Organisation (WHO), so the vaccine can be used in other countries through Covax Facility multilateral procurement.” The EUL assesses and lists vaccines during emergencies in non-vaccine-producing countries.
The Covid-19 vaccine was developed in collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine, an independent health sciences centre in Houston, Texas, the statement added.
The company currently contributes 67 percent to the global supply of polio vaccines, and has exported its novel Oral Polio Vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to Israel, Egypt, Somalia and Yemen in the Middle East.
(Writing by P Deol; Editing by Anoop Menon)
