Legal Basis for Covid-19 Vaccination Issued

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

A man receives a vaccine injection during a simulated trial of giving the Covid 19 vaccine at the Tanah Sareal Community Health Center, Bogor City, West Java, Sunday (4/10/2020). The simulation was carried out for the readiness of the Tanah Sareal Health Center in Bogor City, which is one of the two health centers in Indonesia designated for the implementation of the Covid 19 vaccine trial.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has issued Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 99/2020 concerning the procurement of vaccine and the implementation of vaccination in coping with the Covid-19 pandemic as a legal umbrella to ensure that the vaccination will reach targeted recipients.

However, Covid-19 task force spokesperson Wiku Bakti Bawono Adisasmito said in Jakarta on Thursday (8/10/2020) that vaccination alone would not guarantee success in overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vaccination is only one form of medical intervention to strengthen the immunity of citizens during a pandemic. So, residents must continue to follow health protocols alongside the vaccination program. Without discipline in implementing the health protocols, Covid-19 transmission will continue.

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According to Wiku, Perpres No. 99/2020 was signed by President Jokowi on Oct. 5, 2020 and announced in the government gazette the following day. The regulation will become the legal basis for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines and the implementation of vaccination. “Vaccination requires extraordinary measures and special arrangements, so a Perpres was issued," he said.

The Perpres regulates the procurement of vaccines, supporting equipment and logistics. State-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma (Persero), has been assigned to carry out the procurement of the vaccines. Bio Farma is allowed to cooperate with other companies or agencies to carry out the procurement task.

The distribution of the vaccines and vaccination are also regulated in the Perpres. The vaccination plan is based on a number of criteria and priorities regarding the recipients, vaccination areas, schedules and stages as well as vaccination standards. Currently, the government is preparing several Covid-19 candidate vaccines.

Vaccination requires extraordinary measures and special arrangements, so a Perpres was issued

Also read: Price Ceiling for Covid-19 Swab Test Set at Rp 900,000

AP PHOTO/NG HAN GUAN

Syringes of SARS CoV-2 Vaccine for COVID-19 produced by SinoVac are displayed during a media tour of its factory in Beijing on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020. A Chinese health official said Friday, Sept. 25, 2020, that the country\'s annual production capacity for coronavirus vaccines will top 1 billion doses next year, following an aggressive government support program for construction of new factories. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Transmission rate

According to the latest data issued by the Covid-19 task force, the daily tally of new cases reached 4,850 on Thursday, bringing the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in the country to 320,564. The number of patients who died of Covid-19 increased by 108 people to a total of 11,580 people. The daily tally of new cases was obtained from the examination of 32,901 people, indicating that the positivity rate was still high at 14.7 percent.

This data also indicates the number of people tested per day has increased, and is higher than the standard of at least one per 1,000 head of population per week set by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to Tonang Dwi Ardyanto, an executive of the Indonesian Association of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Specialists (PDS Patklin), Indonesia must check at least 38,500 people per day.

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Meanwhile, a recent study shows that Covid-19 patients who died in Jakarta had an average age of 58.2 years. The study also found that old age, pneumonia, shortness of breath and hypertension were the main causes of death in Covid-19 patients.

This study was published by researchers at the University of Indonesia’s Medical Schools (FKUI) and Jakarta health office in the journal Acta Medica Indonesiana. The researchers included Anna Rozaliyani, Diah Handayani from FKUI and the team.

AFP/WANG ZHAO

Sinovac Biotech vaccines, one of 11 Chinese companies approved to carry out clinical trials of potential coronavirus vaccines, are displayed at a press conference during a media tour of a new factory built to produce Covid-19 coronavirus vaccines, in Beijing on September 24, 2020.

In this study, the researchers used epidemiological tracing recapitulation data issued by the Jakarta administration from March 2 to April 27, 2020. The results of the study show that out of 4,052 patients, 381 patients, or 9.4 percent, died.

"The results of this study are expected to provide information to the public or clinicians about the risk factors for the death of Covid-19 patients," FKUI dean Ari Fahrial Syam said in response to the results of this study.

Also read: Anticipating Covid-19 Vaccine

In this paper, Anna said, the risk of death was greater if the patient was older, and suffered from shortness of breath, pneumonia and hypertension. This paper also indicates that the average age of Covid-19 patients who died is 58.2 years. The risk of death increases for patients above 50 years of age, far higher than those below 50 years.

The study also found that 81.6 percent of Covid-19 patients with pneumonia, which accounted for 41.1, percent died. The patient also had symptoms such as cough, fever and shortness of breath. This study also stated that hypertension doubled the risk of death for Covid-19 patients.

Ari hopes the results of this research can increase alertness in efforts to prevent the transmission of Covid-19.