JAKARTA, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- An Indonesian official said that Indonesia is ready to develop a homegrown vaccine for the avian influenza virus, the English daily The Jakarta Post reported on Tuesday.

    "The government would first improve the expertise of local scientists before they started working on the vaccine," Amin Soebandrio, chairman of the National Commission for Avian Influenza, was quoted as saying.

    He said Indonesia already had the advantage of controlling good quality antitoxins for the vaccine.

    "Along with Vietnam, we have two types of antitoxin for producing the vaccine. So it is illogical to continue to import them," Amin said.

    Bird flu has killed 54 people nationwide in Indonesia, the highest death toll among the countries infected with the deadly disease.

    The Indonesia government has earlier agreed to purchase 91 million dosages of bird flu vaccine from China.