REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KUTA - World Health Organization (WHO) hopes Bio Farma can scale up the production of vaccines. Bio Farma currently produces influenza vaccination in limited amount due to insufficient facility.

Assistant Director General for Innovation, Information, Evidence and Research in 2010, Marie Paule Kieny, said vaccine production could be enhanced if they continued building a new place and its facilities.

"WHO expects Bio Farma can improve the production capacity," Kieny said on Wednesday on the sidelines of Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DVCMN) forum.

The Head of Surveillance Division at Bio Farma, Novilia S. Bachtiar, said with a new building, Bio Farma could produce 20 million doses of influenza vaccination per year. "We are only able to supply 200,000 per year for hajj market," Bachtiar said.

According to the Deputy of US Department of Health and Human Services, Daniel Miller, vaccine is an effective and efficient way to prevent influenza. The US supports DCVMN because influenza is a problem faced by every country, particularly developing countries.

The US gives financial and technical support for Bio Farma and other 13 countries to prevent influenza and its variants. The aid is given to WHO. WHO then facilitates Bio Farma with its technology. With the support, developing countries are able to prepare themselves towards pandemic influenza virus.

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