The government has decided on the type of vaccine it plans to use for the eventual vaccination program in Indonesia.
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KOMPAS TEAM
·4 minutes read
AFP/AZWAR IIPANK
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.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS— The government has decided on the type of vaccine it plans to use for the eventual vaccination program in Indonesia. The vaccines used will be produced by state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Pharma, Britain’s AstraZeneca, the United States’ Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, as well as China’s Sinovac Biotech.
This decision is stipulated in Health Ministry Decree No. 9860/2020 on the arrangement of vaccines used in the COVID-19 vaccination program. Health Ministry spokesperson Wisdyawati confirmed the regulation on Friday.
According to the decree, the vaccines will be made available to the public only after the Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has approved them for emergency use.
Meanwhile, unsubsidized vaccinations will be under the supervision of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir.
The decree, which was signed by Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto on Dec. 3, also stated that the vaccines will be procured under the supervision of Terawan. Meanwhile, unsubsidized vaccinations will be under the supervision of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir.
Terawan can change the type of vaccines used in the program with the recommendation of the Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI) while considering suggestions from the COVID-19 mitigation and national economic recovery task force.
Digital Certification
Following the decision of some countries to begin mass vaccination, the World Health Organization (WHO) is considering digital certification as a way to expedite data collection on COVID-19 vaccine recipients. “We are considering the use of technology in COVID-19 mitigation, and one way is to improve cooperation with country members through digital vaccine certifications,” WHO expert Siddharta Datta said on Thursday.
The certificate will help health authorities identify and monitor vaccine recipients. The WHO is discussing the program with its member countries.
Nevertheless, WHO senior official for Europe Catherine Smallwood said the certification was not a certification of assurance. “We do not recommend [the vaccines],” she said.
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD/JOHN CAIRNS VIA AP
In this undated photo issued by the University of Oxford, a volunteer is administered the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, in Oxford, England. Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Monday Nov. 23, 2020, that late-stage trials showed its coronavirus vaccine was up to 90% effective, giving public health officials hope they may soon have access to a vaccine that is cheaper and easier to distribute than some of its rivals.
In its statement, the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) explained the agency’s decision to approve the emergency use of a vaccine. Last Wednesday, the MHRA authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The MHRA said the approval was made under strict safety standards. Next week, the UK government will begin its mass vaccination program.
“All vaccines must pass large-sample clinical tests and follow international standards under the supervision of the MHRA. No vaccine will be given, except for vaccines that meet the safety, quality and effectiveness standards,” the MHRA wrote in its statement.
MHRA chief executive June Raine said corners were not cut in the approval process of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The MHRA was able to quickly approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine because the data was checked while the vaccine was undergoing clinical trials. The agency did not wait until Pfizer and BioNTech completed their clinical trials to start the bureaucratic procedure.
Control guidelines
While waiting for vaccination, Indonesia should maintain its mitigation and tracing efforts. Nevertheless, the implementation COVID-19 mitigation and management guidelines issued by the Health Ministry in July is still unsatisfactory because it has not been followed by mass testing and contact tracing.
“After months of implementation, we should not strive for the minimum target. Instead, we should be able to conduct mass testing and tracing to break the chain of infection,” Padjajaran University epidemiologist Panji Fortuna Hadisoemarto said.
WHO guidelines set out a priority hierarchy for testing. However, this priority scale is made under the assumption of limited testing capacity, Panji added.
Kompas
This combination of file pictures created on August 05, 2020 shows a sign for Pfizer pharmaceutical company on a building in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on March 18, 2017 and the Moderna headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 18, 2020.
In the Health Ministry’s guidelines, testing is focused on patients with symptoms as well as people deemed vulnerable. People who are in close contact with patients as well as those without symptoms are excluded from testing and are only recommended to isolate themselves.
Indonesia has only met 90 percent of the minimal testing target set by the WHO, 1 out of 1,000 people per week. Although the figure is increasing, the number of tests has not stabilized, and only 10 provinces have met the minimum target.
Panji said mass testing followed by quick contact tracing had been proven effective at mitigating infection, which in turn helped the country avoid surges in new cases.
