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 President Joko Widodo urged calm as public uproar intensified over
revelations that health officials knew about the syndicate producing
the fake vaccines for several years but did little to stop it.
The scandal has exposed major weaknesses in the government's
oversight of the health sector, which has expanded rapidly alongside
a growing middle class.
No illnesses or deaths have been directly linked to the fake
vaccines, officials have said.
"I want to ask people to stay calm because this incident happened
over such a long time," Widodo told reporters at a Jakarta clinic
offering re-vaccinations.
"We need more time to investigate so we can get the real data of
people who suffered from these fake vaccines."
The ring used stolen vials and forged labels to make the fake
medicine look like imported vaccines produced by GlaxoSmithKline and
Sanofi. State-owned Bio Farma produces nearly all vaccines available
in Indonesia.
The syndicate sold fake booster vaccines for hepatitis B,
diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough to at least 14 health
facilities in Jakarta and elsewhere on Java island.
Health officials said the sham vaccines contained the antibiotic
gentamicin and saline solution and were not harmful and made up only
1 percent of total vaccines in Indonesia.
Investigators are trying to determine how widely the fake drugs were
distributed.
Police have arrested nearly two dozen people, including drugmakers,
pharmacists, doctors and nurses.
The fake medicine was sold to customers for up to 800,000 rupiah
($60) a dose, a big mark-up compared with government-subsidized
vaccines that are sold for as little as 5,000 rupiah, police said.
Some parents were told by health workers the imported vaccines were
better for their children, officials said.
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Police have identified at least 197 children for re-vaccination, but
many more are expected to be confirmed.
Health Minister Nila Moeloek told Reuters officials knew fake
vaccines were being distributed in 2013 but she declined to say why
action was not taken sooner. The president has ordered an overhaul
of the food and drug monitoring agency.
One mother, Rina Herlina Sari, told Reuters she no longer trusted
private clinics.
"The government should revoke their permits," she said after her
baby daughter got a re-vaccination at a government health center in
Jakarta's outskirts.
Reuters reporters visited the clinic accused of giving Sari's
daughter, and other children, fake vaccines, and found it operating.
Its main midwife had been arrested but other staff were working.
"The overall facility is a health facility with other areas of care
so we have to allow it to continue," Agung Setya, director of
criminal police investigations, told Reuters.
"It is up to the health ministry to decide whether to shut it down."
(Additional reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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