Indonesia approved the Covid-19 vaccine produced by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm,  for emergency use, paving the way for Southeast Asia’s largest economy to start its inoculation program.

 Indonesia's food and drug authority BPOM has issued an emergency use authorization for the Covid-19 vaccine produced by Sinopharm, an official source said on Friday.

Indonesia would use the Sinopharm vaccine for a mutual vaccination scheme locally known as "Gotong Royong", where companies or legal entities can arrange the Covid-19 vaccine rollout for their employees for free, to help the country achieve herd immunity faster.

Chief of BPOM Penny Lukito made the announcement, saying the issuance of the EUA was based on the third phase of clinical trials in the United Arab Emirates and other countries, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Previously, Indonesia had approved the emergency use for three other brands of Covid-19 vaccines, namely the CoronaVac produced by the Chinese company Sinovac, the Covid-19 vaccine produced by the state-company PT Bio Farma in collaboration with Sinovac, and the AstraZeneca vaccine.

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