Indonesia has received its first COVID vaccines from China, Bloomberg News reported Monday.
President Joko Widodo said the government was ready for large-scale vaccinations following receipt of vaccines from Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
He said more than 1 million doses arrived late Sunday and health authorities expected to receive another 1.8 million in January.
Sinovac will ship other COVID materials to help Indonesia's state pharmaceutical company Bio Farma to produce around 45 million shots locally.
The China-developed treatment still needs to be examined by Indonesia's food and drug agency while health officials prepare for distribution across the country with a population of 270 million, reports said.
"We're very grateful the vaccine is now available and we can immediately curb the spread of COVID-19," ABC News quoted the president as saying.
Indonesia is working with Sinovac on final stage clinical tests of its experimental treatment - with tests on 1,620 patients in West Java's Bandung city since August. Indonesia considered collaborating with China biotech companies CanSino Biologics Inc. and Sinopharm Group Co., Ltd.
Indonesia has orders with three other pharmaceutical companies - including AstraZeneca plc, whose vaccines are currently in third-phase trials.
Meanwhile, Sinovac has raised $515 million in funding from China biotechnology company Sino Biopharmaceutical Ltd. to fast-track production of its COVID vaccine, the companies said.
Sinovac will now have the capacity to produce 300 million doses a year and aims to finalize the construction of a second factory by the end of the year which will allow combined production to reach 600 million doses annually.
