Mr Joko Widodo, President of the largest Muslim-majority nation in the world called on Indonesia not to rush the roll-out of vaccinations, citing public awareness issues as to whether they were halal. Indonesia has struggled to get its epidemic under control with more than 365,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 12,000 deaths, and the government has been rushing to …

METRO MANILA – The Department of Health’s (DOH) P2.5-billion allocation for COVID-19 vaccines in the 2021 national budget lacks some P10 billion to purchase coronavirus vaccines that will be enough to cover the 20 million Filipinos or 20% of the country’s population Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press briefing that DOH sent a recommendation that the …

METRO MANILA – One of China’s candidate vaccine for COVID-19 has been cleared by the country for Phase 3 clinical trial that is expected to start by November. According to the Food and Drug Administration director general Eric Domingo the vaccine expert panel from the  Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has given the vaccine the green light to proceed …

Indonesia plans to start administering coronavirus vaccines by depending on supplies from Chinese drugmakers at the beginning of November, as the fourth most populous nation in the world is fighting a health crisis that may lead to the first recession in more than two decades. The Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs announced that CanSino Biologics, the first Chinese …

The Presidential Secretariat refuted reports that the working visit of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to Central Kalimantan was an attempt to stop mass protests in front of the Presidential Palace against the newly adopted and highly controversial Job Creation Legislation. Jokowi’s trip to Kalimantan had been scheduled for a long time which was stated by Bey Machmudin, the secretariat’s deputy …

Indonesia is trying to obtain AstraZeneca vaccines as part of its strategy to acquire overseas doses while rising local production to inoculate its more than 270 million population. In an interview with Yvonne Man of Bloomberg Television, the country’s international and state-owned enterprise ministries are in talks with the UK-based business, Research and Technology Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro, who leads the …

KUALA LUMPUR – Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said on Tuesday night that the United Nations must ensure that once the vaccine has been discovered, it must be made available to all. Muhyiddin said that the Covid-19 pandemic has taken so many lives and has exposed the capacity and effectiveness of our health sector. The socio-economic impact has been …

President Joko Widodo has set up a national team to speed up the development of a possible Covid-19 vaccine and enhance the country’s resilience to the pandemic.   The team was established on the National Team by Presidential Decree No. 18/2020 to accelerate the development of Covid-19 vaccines, which the President signed on Sept. 3. While the Chair is set …

Research related to COVID-19 is being carried out by several researchers in various places in Indonesia. A microbiology expert from the University of Indonesia Pratiwi Sudarmono explained because the mutations that occur COVID-19 spread more rapidly. This is considered normal and can be done at any time because SARS-CoV-2 is a type of RNA virus. Besides, the D614G coronavirus mutation …

Thailand will postpone clinical trials of its coronavirus vaccine due to limited overseas manufacturing space, a senior official said on Wednesday, but plans to restart trials by the end of the year. Health authorities had expected human vaccine testing by October, but will postpone the full ability of factories abroad for several months, said Kiat Ruxrungtham, director of the vaccine …