Jakarta, Jul 16 (IANS): Indonesia's Food and Drug Authority (BPOM) has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine amid a spike in cases as the more contagious Delta variant is spreading in the country, an official said.
"BPOM has issued the EUA for the vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech with the mRNA platform," Xinhua news agency quoted the Authority's head Penny K. Lukito as saying at a virtual press conference on Thursday.
Indonesia has an agreement to procure 50 million doses of Pfizer vaccine throughout 2021.
The country has so far given EUA approvals to five Covid-19 vaccine producers, namely Sinovac, Sinopharm, Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca.
Indonesia recorded on Thursday 56,757 new cases, the highest since the pandemic hit the country for the first time in March last year, bringing the total tally to 2,726,803.
The death toll stood at 69,210.