By: Dodik Prasetyo) *
The government continues to bring in vaccines to accelerate the realization of the national vaccination program. Apart from Sinovac, the Government has now provided the AstraZeneca vaccine to support effective mass vaccination against Covid-19.
The Covid-19 vaccine for Indonesia was again imported from abroad on March 8, 2021. It is known that 1.1 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from the Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX) have arrived. His arrival was the first of a total of 11,704,800 vaccine doses that COVAX has allocated for Indonesia until May 2021.
This means that there will be two types of vaccines that will be used in Indonesia, namely Sinovac and AstraZeneca.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is obtained through multilateral cooperation between the Government of Indonesia and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and various other international parties through the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access initiative. (COVAX) Facility.
This global initiative aims to strive for equal access to Covid-19 vaccines for all countries.
One of the advantages of the AstraZeneca vaccine is that it does not require refrigeration at very low temperatures. Dr Soumya Swaminathan as the Chief Scientist from WHO said the vaccine can be stored and is stable at temperatures up to 8 degrees Celsius.
As a comparison, the Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at an ambient temperature of minus 75 degrees Celsius. Swaminathan also said that the advantage of this vaccine is that it can be stored in a normal refrigerator temperature. That way, this advantage can certainly facilitate distribution to areas and even to rural areas around the world.
In terms of efficacy, AstraZeneca is claimed to have an efficacy of up to 90% when the vaccine is given as one and a half doses, followed by a full dose at least one month later.
In addition, 62 percent efficacy or efficacy when given in two separate full doses, at least one month. Combined analysis of the two dosage regimens (n = 11,636) yielded a mean efficacy of 70%.
Meanwhile, a study conducted on 2,000 people who were given the AstraZeneca vaccine, showed that the vaccine offers limited protection against mild and moderate diseases caused by the South African variant.
There is no evidence yet to suggest that it will not be effective in preventing more severe cases requiring hospitalization.
The government’s deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van Tam, said there was ample evidence to suggest the vaccine appeared to be effective against the dominant Kent variant in the UK.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has also been included in the emergency yse list (EUL) or the WHO emergency use list since February 15, 2021.
There is little evidence of protection for other variants, such as the Brazilian and South African variants.
Meanwhile, the head of the company behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine said that researchers believe the vaccine he is developing is effective against the new variant B.1.17 virus.
Head of the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) Penny Lukito said the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine can be given to the adult to elderly age group.
In South Korea, AstraZeneca vaccination is given to seniors over 65 years of age, with the reason to accelerate the immunization movement.
The country of ginseng has started to run vaccinations since the last week of February, which started among health workers and the elderly.
However, more than 370,000 people over the age of 65 in nursing homes for the elderly have been excluded from the vaccination program.
Penny also said that the application for the emergency use of the Covid-19 vaccine was carried out through two channels, namely multilaterally and registered directly by AstraZeneca Indonesia.
Penny explained, before granting an emergency use permit, BPOM had conducted an evaluation with the National Committee for Drug Evaluation and other parties.
On a different occasion, Spokesperson for Covid-19 Vaccination of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Siti Nadia Tarmizi said the vaccine made by AstraZeneca would be used for the government’s national program.
Nadia said that the government guarantees the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine. If later there is a follow-up after immunization (AEFI), the government has prepared a coping mechanism.
The Covid-19 pandemic must be fought and ended as soon as possible, of course one of the efforts that can be done is by giving vaccinations to the community.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has obtained an emergency use permit from the BPOM, so the arrival of the vaccine must of course be welcomed positively in order to end the pandemic which has lasted more than 1 year.
) * The author is a contributor to the Indonesian Strategic Information Studies Institute (LSISI)