COVID-19 task force spokesman Wiku Adisasmito urged the public to be patient while waiting for the COVID-19 vaccine to arrive in Indonesia, saying that the government was making every effort to procure and deliver the serum.

“The vaccine’s effectiveness and safety upon improving the public’s health is our main priority,” Wiku said as quoted by kompas.com. 

On Nov. 5, Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister spokesman Jodi Mahardi said the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine in Indonesia depended on the vaccine candidate's third clinical trial results. 

Jodi’s comment elaborated on Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan's claim that a vaccine could only be available in the third week of December. 

The minister is part of a team of officials tasked by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to focus on handling COVID-19 transmission in the country.

The vaccination program was originally set to launch in November. However, Luhut said the program had been delayed because the Indonesia Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) needed more time to issue the emergency use authorization (EUA) in order to make the vaccine available nationwide. 

During the seventh Singapore Dialogue on Sustainable World Resources (SDSWR) on Wednesday, Luhut announced that the government was currently conducting third-phase clinical trials for vaccines that were being developed by Sinovac and Bio Farma in Bandung, West Java.

“I think the vaccine will be administered to 9 million people in specific areas that have a high COVID-19 rate, such as Jakarta."

He added that the government was planning to turn Bali into a green zone area at the start of 2021 as part of the vaccination program.

The Executive Office of the President (KSP) previously said that vaccination was the key to achieving herd immunity and curb the spread of COVID-19.

A principal expert at the KSP deputy II for human development, Brian Sri Prahastuti, said herd immunity could be achieved if the country succeeded in vaccinating at least 75 percent of the population. 

“That way, 25 percent of the population who for some reason did not get the vaccine, will also benefit because virus transmission would be minimized,” Brian said in a statement on Friday.

Meanwhile, Pfizer Inc. said on Monday that its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90 percent effective based on initial trial results. This is a major victory in the war against a virus that has killed over a million people and battered the world's economy, Reuters reported. 

Scientists, public health officials and investors welcomed the first successful interim data from a large-scale clinical test as a watershed moment that could help turn the tide of the pandemic if the full trial results pan out. 

However, mass roll-outs, which need regulatory approval, will not happen this year and several vaccines are seen as necessary to meet massive global needs. 

Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE said they had found no serious safety concerns yet and expected to seek the United States' emergency use authorization (EUA) this month, increasing the chance of a regulatory decision as soon as December. 

If granted, the companies estimate they can roll out up to 50 million doses this year, enough to protect 25 million people, and then produce up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021. (dpk)

 

Editor’s note: This article is part of a public campaign by the COVID-19 task force to raise people’s awareness about the pandemic.