Indonesia has rolled out its first domestically produced COVID-19 vaccine. It is hoped IndoVac will save the country money and even be exported.

The state-owned pharmaceutical company, Bio Farma started developing it in June 2021 in collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine in the United States.

At the launch ceremony in Bandung, West Java province, President Joko Widodo watched as the first 25 people received their shots.

The government hopes that IndoVac will end the reliance on imported vaccines and save foreign-exchange reserves. It also hopes to export it to other countries and become a Southeast Asian hub for the production of COVID-19 vaccines.

Joko said, "Eventually this initiative will actually generate more revenue for the country and we will be self-sufficient when it comes to vaccines."

Coronavirus infections in Indonesia have declined to about two thousand new cases a day, down from a high of about 64,000 in February. The government has said the pandemic might be declared over by next February if the trend continues.

Efforts to develop vaccines in other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Singapore, and Thailand have progressed to clinical trials.