Islamic countries set out plans for self-reliance in vaccine production

Islamic countries have acknowledged the importance of self-reliance in vaccine production and are committed to establishing closer cooperation towards achieving this end, as they ended their 6th Annual Meeting of Self-Reliance in Vaccine Production (SRVP), in Bandung, Indonesia.

SRVP is supported by Islamic Development Bank (IDB), and the three-day meeting which ended yesterday has elected Indonesia`s state-owned PT Bio Farma as the new focal point for Projects Implementation Monitoring and the Razi Institute of Iran as the Training Manager.

In view of the increasing constraints caused by ever more stringent requirements from the World Health Organization, SRVP members agreed to constitute a task force from within their membership to formulate their proposals for input in the new WHO draft prequalification guidelines. Indonesia will assist vaccine producers in Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) countries ' which number 57 - to accelerate their achievement of WHO prequalification.