The Indonesian government recently received approval for a USD 450M loan from the Asian Development Bank to its domestic vaccine supplier PT Bio Farma to boost the country’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement which is under considerable stress owing to global shortages and policy gaps.
The fund is from the USD 9 billion APVAX (Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility) fund launched in 2020 which is essentially public money from OECD countries channeled to strengthen domestic pharma companies in the Asia Pacific. This will help in making the vaccine procurement system more sustainable, equitable, accelerating access, and aid self-sufficiency in developing countries like Indonesia.
The loan follows earlier funds like the USD 3 million Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund grant (April 2020) to acquire critical medical equipment and supplies and a USD 1.5 billion COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure (CARES) Program loan as budget support for urgent public health assistance.
The CARES Program is co-financed by Australia’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Department, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, German Development Cooperation through KfW, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Read the article here from the Insider Stories to know more.
Image credits: Metrum.co
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