As many as 3 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine made by China’s Sinovac Biotech have begun to be distributed to a number of regions in Indonesia.
By
PRADIPTA PANDU
·5 minutes read
BPMI SEKRETARIAT PRESIDEN
The Sinovac vaccine is taken to a storage room with a temperature of 2-8 degrees Celsius at PT Bio Farma, Bandung, Monday (7/12/2020).
As many as 3 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine made by China’s Sinovac Biotech have begun to be distributed to a number of regions in Indonesia. According to the plan, vaccination will begin in the second or third week of January 2021 after obtaining emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) and will be given to health workers.
State-owned pharmaceutical holding company Bio Farma spokesperson for COVID-19 vaccine Bambang Heriyanto said in a virtual press conference in Jakarta on Sunday (3/1/2020) that his company had received 3 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine. The ready-to-use products have begun to be distributed to regions across Indonesia. Cold chain logistics and distribution is being prepared before the vaccine is used.
“Starting today, [Sinovac COVID-19] vaccines are distributed to all 34 provinces. Fasyankes [health care facilities] are supporting [logistics]. The cold chain distributions are ready. Multiple parties are involved in the process,” he said.
Starting today, [Sinovac COVID-19] vaccines are distributed to all 34 provinces.
Bambang asserted that the distributed vaccines were ready for widespread use. “It is not true that the vaccines are still undergoing trials. The vaccines, which are stored at Bio Farma’s warehouse and will be used for the country’s vaccination program, will be used after obtaining BPOM’s emergency use authorization,” he said.
All Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine are stored in Bio Farma’s special storage facilities at two to eight degrees Celsius.
The vaccines are being examined by the Indonesian Ulema Council Assessment Institute for Foods, Drugs and Cosmetics (LPPOM MUI) and Halal Certification Agency (BPJPH) for its halal status.
Health Ministry\'s spokesperson for COVID-19 vaccine Siti Nadia Tarmizi added that though the vaccines are ready for use, the government is still waiting for the vaccine’s emergency use authorization from the BPOM. “Based on the information we obtained, the clinical trials in Brazil, Turkey and Bandung’s Padjadjaran University have so far showed good results. We are optimistic that the vaccination will begin in the second or third week of January 2021,” she said.
AFP
Comparison of the effectiveness of commonly used vaccines with those used for Covid-19.
According to Nadia the COVID-19 vaccination will be carried out in two stages and will take 15 months from January 2021 to March 2022. The first stage will take place from January to April 2021, during which 1.3 million health workers and 17.4 million public workers in all 34 provinces will be prioritized. The second stage will be carried out for 11 months from April 2021 to March 2022, during which the remaining citizens will be vaccinated.
So far, there are 15,000 health facilities and 30,000 vaccinators ready to inoculate 181.5 million people. “We are sure that we can complete the vaccination drive through the support of our human resources and infrastructure,” Nadia said.
An additional 1.8 million doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, on Thursday (31/12). The country had received 1.2 million doses of the vaccine on Dec. 6, bringing the total to 3 million ready-to-use doses. In the near future, it\'s expected that 15 million doses of bulk vaccine from Sinovac will also arrive in Indonesia.
Situation in regions across Indonesia
Meanwhile, North Sulawesi will receive around 15,000 out of the 23,760 COVID-19 vaccine doses. The North Sulawesi government is preparing a cold chain logistic system, including in 15 regencies and cities in the province, to safely store the vaccines.
Contacted from Manado on Sunday (3/1), North Sulawesi COVID-19 task force spokesperson Steaven Dandel said that the vaccine distribution to North Sulawesi would be carried out in two phases. All vaccines for the first phase are all made by Sinovac.
The first phase of the vaccines will be allocated for health workers, according to Steaven. He, however, has not been able to provide the exact number of vaccine recipients as data collection is still ongoing as of Sunday midnight. Health workers who have tested positive for the virus, for example, cannot receive the vaccine. The vaccines will be distributed to 195 healthcare facilities and 49 hospitals in the province.
Kompas
Muslim women ride a motorbike past a coronavirus-themed mural in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020. Writings on the mural read "Let\'s fight coronavirus together". As companies race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and countries scramble to secure doses, questions about the use of pork products — banned by some religious groups — has raised concerns about the possibility of disrupted immunization campaigns.
Starting this week, 31,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines will come to Bali and will be stored in Bali Health Agency’s cold room facilities. “The vaccination drive will begin on 22 January 2021 after obtaining BPOM’s approval,” Bali Health Agency head I Ketut Suarjaya said.
In Central Kalimantan, vaccine distribution will involve health agencies in regency and city level. Authorities in the province have prepped a number of vaccinators. “The training is conducted online,” Central Kalimantan Health Agency head Suyuti Syamsul said.
Amid preparations for the country’s nationwide vaccination, healthcare facilities are overwhelmed by the overflowing COVID-19 patients. Some of them are even left untreated.
Up to a 40 percent increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases are expected to be recorded next week following the long year-end holidays, which triggered people’s mobility.
“Indonesia’s COVID-19 epidemic has yet to reach its peak, but hospitals are already overwhelmed. It is very difficult these days to find a place for treatment, including for health workers,” said Zubairi Djoerban, head of the Indonesian Doctors Association\'s (IDI) coronavirus task force.
The COVID-19 task force recorded 6,877 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of infections nationwide to 765,350. The data was obtained by testing 27,778 people, bringing the country’s positivity rate to 24.7 percent.
