Jakarta, July 9 -- Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin sets a target for Indonesia to domestically manufacture all 15 vaccine antigens used in the national immunization program by 2029, thus he pushed for research and development into 11 antigens.

Budi said here on Wednesday at the launch of the University of Indonesia and Tsinghua University's prototype for an mRNA-based dengue vaccine that Indonesia utilizes 15 antigens, which are formulated into 13 vaccines. However, only four of those antigens are produced domestically.

"We will retire by 2031. Can we do it faster? 'Vaccine development can take long.' I don't believe it. COVID-19, we can do it in 18 months, 20 months. Why do I keep receiving an answer that we need about 5 years and ...