JAKARTA, INDONESIA — Indonesia will start its COVID-19 inoculation program either on the second or the third week of this month. The phase III clinical trial is still ongoing at Padjajaran University, Bandung, West Java, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.
Siti Nadia Tarmizi, a spokeswoman for the ministry’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program, expressed her optimism after the satisfactory clinical trial results in Turkey and Brazil—countries that have also bought China’s Sinovac vaccines.
She hoped that three million doses of the vaccine will be distributed evenly to 34 provinces in Indonesia.
Medical workers are prioritised for vaccination. However, several misleading information on hospitals offering vaccination programs is flooding chat applications, raising confusion among social media users.
Hospitals are not allowed to offer vaccination programs until further notice
In the middle of December, numerous private hospitals in Indonesia such as Jakarta’s Bunda Hospital and Yogyakarta’s UII Hospital started offering COVID-19 vaccines, as advertised on their respective Instagram accounts.
Wiku Adisasmito, a spokesman for the COVID-19 Vaccination Program, stressed that the government has yet to announce vaccine distribution to private healthcare facilities.
Bunda Hospital told TOC that while the hospital had previously opened registration for COVID-19 vaccination, it has now closed the registration. The hospital did not elaborate further on why it has done so.
Pondok Indah Hospital was rumoured to have offered the vaccination program. The hospital, however, snubbed the rumour that has been circulating via WhatsApp.
“How did everyone get the news? We have yet to offer any COVID-19 vaccination programs as we are waiting for the government’s further update,” a customer support officer from the hospital stated.
An ob-gyn who once worked for the Pertamina Jaya Hospital–now one of the COVID-19 designated hospitals–told TOC she had received a short text message notification on vaccination, given that medical workers are prioritised for vaccination.
“I received the message, but no specific date on when the vaccination will start,” she said, warning people not to trust any dubious information on social media fully.
How many people will be vaccinated?
Siti stated that vaccines will target 181.5 million Indonesians and will be given twice, adding that the vaccination program will take 15 months.
The first period will take place from January to April 2021. The priority will be given to 1.3 million health workers and 17.4 million public officers in 34 provinces, as Kontan reported.
The second period will be from April 2021 until March 2022 and target all the remaining Indonesians — around 162.8 million people.
The Phase III clinical trial is still ongoing
Despite being distributed, Indonesia’s Food and Drugs Supervisory Agency (BPOM) stated it is still evaluating the Phase III Clinical trial in Bandung.
“The Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is still in process. However, vaccines have been given a special license for distribution as it takes time to reach all regions in Indonesia,” BPOM Head Penny K. Lukito told reporters, Monday (4 January), Merdeka cited.
In an interview with TOC a few weeks ago, epidemiologist Pandu Riono raised concern over the EUA.
“BPOM will be under pressure, meaning that it has yet to receive complete information (about Sinovac), but those vaccines are already here. And the numbers of new daily cases hit more than 5,000,” Dr Pandu told TOC.
Taruna Ikrar, Indonesian scientist and doctor based in the US, explained that vaccines from an inactivated virus (such as Sinovac) and mRNAs like Pfizer and Moderna have their plus and minus points.
“Let’s start from vaccines from an inactivated virus. We see that the virus’s whole body can turn into an antigen (a substance that can trigger an immune system to produce a specific antibody). However, our body cannot always produce an antibody,” said Dr Taruna during a webinar held by Kabari Indonesia on 30 December.
He added that any vaccines are safe as long as the efficacy is above 50 per cent, suggesting that there will be no need for a clinical trial for a mutated virus. An annual vaccination exercise can be the best alternative to deal with the COVID-19.
