Badung, Bali (ANTARA) - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has said that the production of tuberculosis vaccines will need to be completed by the end of 2028 to achieve the target of ending TB by 2030.At the High-Level Meeting on TB Innovation here on Monday, the minister underlined that vaccination would accelerate TB handling outside of screening and therapy.
Currently, the Ministry of Health is exploring cooperation with three vaccine producers, including an M72 vaccine candidate, with the target of completing production by late 2028 so that the vaccines can be launched in 2029.
The three vaccine producers are from Germany, the United States, and China.
Sadikin acknowledged that the possibility of failure in the TB vaccine production trial is very high. Therefore, the ministry is not solely relying on one producer and conducting a number of clinical trials.
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"M72 is a vaccine whose technology is from a combination project that has been produced in Indonesia. It is currently in the third phase of clinical trial and the patients have been recruited," he informed.
The minister noted that during their recent meeting, President Prabowo Subianto and Chinese President Xi Jinping also discussed health issues, including TB.
He further said that China has managed to lower TB incidence — from previously being the country with the most number of TB cases to bringing down its caseload below that of India and Indonesia.
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Sadikin underscored that while awaiting the TB vaccines, Indonesia will boost screening to detect more cases in the country.
The minister has set an ambitious goal of identifying one million TB cases in 2025.
He explained that in 2022, the discovery of TB cases increased from 400 thousand per year to 700 thousand. The figure further rose to 840 thousand cases annually in 2023.