The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $450 million loan to Indonesia to help Bio Farma, a state-owned vaccine supplier, procure and deliver safe and effective vaccines against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The Responsive COVID-19 Vaccines for Recovery (RECOVER) project will fund the purchase of at least 65 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for priority groups determined by the Indonesian government.

The project is supported by ADB’s $9 billion Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX), which was launched in December 2020 to offer rapid and equitable vaccine-related support to ADB developing members.

The Indonesian government aims to vaccinate 181.5 million people against COVID-19 in one of the world’s biggest vaccination campaigns. Indonesia recorded more than 1.5 million COVID-19 cases and 40,000 deaths as of 30 March.

The RECOVER project follows earlier ADB assistance to help Indonesia address the challenges posed by the pandemic. This includes a $3 million Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund grant approved in April 2020 to help the Ministry of Health deliver critical medical equipment and supplies; and a $1.5 billion COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure (CARES) Program loan as budget support for urgent public health, social, and economic assistance.