As this will result in an increase in demand for the vaccines, Indonesia should produce its own vaccine so that it will not rely on imports.
By
AHMAD ARIF
·4 minutes read
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.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS - Evidence has shown that immunity to Covid-19 is temporary, indicating that vaccination against the disease may have to be administered in doses. As this will result in an increase in demand for the vaccines, Indonesia should produce its own vaccine so that it will not rely on imports.
"Vaccines, wherever they come from, cannot maintain immunity for life. We should have the ability to deliver or provide vaccines made in the country, " Research and Technology Minister/the head of the National Agency for Research and Innovation, Bambang PS Brodjonegoro, said in Jakarta on Tuesday (20/10/2020).
According to Bambang, the effort to buy vaccines from abroad is a short-term option. "We do import (vaccines) directly, but the priority is technology transfer. Not only with China but with South Korea and Turkey,” he said.
Hopefully the six of them will succeed in developing the vaccines that can meet the safety and efficacy criteria
In order to meet the medium-and long-term needs, according to Bambang, six institutions, including the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, the University of Indonesia, the Bandung Institute of Technology, Airlangga University, and Gadjah Mada University are currently developing the Red and White (local) vaccine candidates
"Hopefully the six of them will succeed in developing the vaccines that can meet the safety and efficacy criteria," he said.
This handout photo taken and released on August 11, 2020 by Presidential palace shows President Joko Widodo (C) visiting the Bio Farma Pharmacy that produce vaccines for COVID-19 coronavirus in Bandung, West Java. - Indonesia on August 11, 2020 launched human trials of a Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine with some 1,600 volunteers slated to take part in the six-month study.
Among these six institutions, according to Bambang, vaccine candidates developed by Eijkman and the University of Indonesia will soon be tested on animals. "These two vaccines will be delivered to state owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma. If all go smoothly, in January 2021 or no later than February 2021, the vaccine seeds will be handed over," he said.
To support the production of the vaccines, Indonesia has sent 114 Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) or the total genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus analyzed from specimens of Covid-19 patients in Indonesia to the world virus data bank GISAID .
540 million doses
Some of them have already invested and applied for permits to the BPOM.
Bambang said, to achieve community immunity, the vaccine must at least be given to 75 percent of the population or 180 million people. If the vaccination is repeated at least 360 million doses are needed. If it has to be given to all the population, the need for vaccines for two times of vaccinations is estimated to reach 540 million doses.
Because the need for vaccines is so large, according to Bambang, Bio Farma may not be able to produce it alone. Therefore, cooperation will be made with other companies, such as Kalbe Farma, PT Sanbe Farma, PT Daewoong Pharmaceutical Company Indonesia, PT Biotis and Tempo Scan.
"Some of them have already invested and applied for permits to the BPOM (Food and Drug Supervisory Agency). Some of them are still preparing the investment plan and the permit," said Bambang. Based on data on www.covid-19 vaccinetracker.org, there are currently 213 vaccines being developed and 36 of them are undergoing clinical trials. Eleven of them are undergoing phase three clinical trials and none has yet been completed. However, six of them have received approval for emergency use authorization (EUA) in Russia and China.
So far, the vaccine from Indonesia has not been registered. The head of the Eijkman Institute, Amin Soebandrio, said that the organization would register it vaccine candidate after the animal testing, which is expected to be carried out later this month.
An engineer works in the general laboratory during a media tour of a new factory built to produce a COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at Sinovac, one of 11 Chinese companies approved to carry out clinical trials of potential coronavirus vaccines, in Beijing on September 24, 2020.
In accordance with the provisions of the World Health Organization (WHO), medical products under the EUA can be used to diagnose, treat, or prevent life-threatening diseases or conditions caused by causes, such as Covid-19, when there is no adequate alternative, approved, and available.
However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States said that medical products can be used under the EUA only if it can be ensured that their benefits would be higher than their risks. The criteria cannot be applied on vaccines that have little benefit or if there is no sufficient data to analyze their safety profile.
Reinfection
A study, published online in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal on 12 Oct. 2020, showed that the first confirmed case of the Covid-19 reinfection occurred in the US. These findings suggest that the exposure to the virus may not guarantee immunity in the future.
The patient who was reinfected was a 25-year-old man from Nevada. He was confirmed to be infected with two different SARS-CoV-2 variants over a period of 48 days. The second infection was more severe than the first one, leaving the patient hospitalized with oxygen support.
The study made by Richard L Tillert of the Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine, University of Nevada, and his team, listed four other confirmed cases of reinfection globally.
