Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – A total of three million doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine in ready-to-use form from the United States arrived in the country via Soekarno Hatta Airport, Tangerang district, Banten province, on Sunday.

The aid from the U.S. was sent through a dose-sharing cooperation scheme or sharing vaccine doses.

"Alhamdulillah, today Indonesia has received 3,000,060 doses of Moderna vaccine, which is an international cooperation support from the United States government through the COVAX Facility multilateral channel," said Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in a virtual press statement, welcoming the arrival of the vaccine.

The aid is the first phase of the delivery of the Moderna vaccine from the United States government, she added.

According to Retno, based on the results of communications with the U.S. government, including the Foreign Minister and National Security Advisor, the United States is committed to providing 4,500,160 doses of vaccine to Indonesia through a dose-sharing scheme.

To the United States Ambassador to Indonesia Sung Yong Kim, Foreign Minister Retno expressed her appreciation and gratitude from the Indonesian government to the US government for this support.

"On behalf of the government of Indonesia, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the United States government for sharing doses to Indonesia through the COVAX Facility," she said.

On the occasion, the Indonesian foreign minister also thanked other parties involved, namely the COVAX Facility, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI), Gavi (Vaccine Alliance), and the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

The dose-sharing scheme, she continued, is part of a multilateral mechanism to ensure equal access to vaccines for all countries. This is continuously discussed in every COVAX Facility meeting.

"Indonesia has consistently supported the dose-sharing mechanism, in order to accelerate the achievement of the principle of equal access to vaccines for all countries," said Retno.

With the arrival of the Moderna vaccine from the US, Indonesia has secured as many as 122,735,260 million doses of vaccine, both in ready-to-use form and raw materials.

This amount consists of 108.5 million doses of Sinovac vaccine, mostly in the form of raw materials; AstraZeneca in the form of ready-to-use vaccine obtained from the COVAX Facility with 8,236,800 doses and 998,400 doses of bilateral dose-sharing support from the government of Japan; Sinopharm as many as 2 million doses of ready-to-use vaccine, including 500 thousand doses supported by the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE); and Moderna through doses-sharing support from the U.S. government through the COVAX Facility as many as 3,000,060 doses of ready-to-use vaccine.

The mRNA-based Moderna has received an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) on July 2, 2021.

Reporting by Indonesia Window