The lead scientist on China’s Sinovac vaccine trials in Indonesia died of suspected COVID-19 on Wednesday, Indonesian media said.
The death of Novilia Sjafri Bachtiar comes as fatalities from the coronavirus reach record highs in Indonesia, one of the countries where the Sinovac vaccine has been most widely used.
Kumparan news service said Novilia had died of the coronavirus. Sindonews quoted an official of state-owned pharmaceuticals company BioFarma as saying she had been buried according to COVID-19 protocols.
State enterprises minister Erick Thohir posted a message on Instagram mourning her “huge loss” at BioFarma, which is making the vaccine. He did not give the cause of her death.
“She was lead scientist and head of dozens of clinical trials done by BioFarma, including COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials in cooperation with Sinovac,” he said.
“It has been produced and injected into tens of millions people in Indonesia, as part of our effort to be free from this COVID-19…