By: Alfisyah Diansari )*
The Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) has issued an initial clinical trial permit for the Red and White Vaccine. The community also appreciates the efforts to develop the Red and White Vaccine, which is one hundred percent the work of the Children of the Nation.
Have you been vaccinated twice and waiting for your turn for booster injections? Currently, there are vaccines circulating in Indonesia that are used in the national vaccination program, namely the outputs of Sinovc, AstraZaneca, etc. These vaccines were obtained from abroad because at the beginning of the pandemic Indonesia did not yet have a homemade vaccine. However, in 2022, we are proud because there is a Red and White Vaccine made in Indonesia.
Head of BPOM (food and drug regulatory agency) Penny Lukito stated that the results of the Red and White Vaccine preclinical test went well. These preclinical trials are based on immunogenicity and safety. In a sense, the Red and White Vaccine has been proven safe and there is no doubt about its effectiveness, because it is not inferior to other brands made abroad.
Penny added, the Red and White Vaccine is planned to be injected in mid-2022, because it is waiting for official permission. In a sense, later people who have not been vaccinated will most likely get this type of vaccine. They don’t have to be picky because the Red and White Vaccine is just as effective in increasing the body’s immunity to fight corona.
If the Red and White Vaccine is proven to be safe and efficacious, the national vaccination program will succeed. The reason is because the distribution of vaccines is getting faster. No need to wait for the arrival of containers containing vaccine ampoules from abroad. However, it is directly distributed from vaccine factories in Indonesia and then distributed throughout Indonesia.
If the vaccine distribution is faster, it will also speed up the completion of the national vaccination program. The government’s target for this program is a maximum of 18 months after March 2021. When distribution is smooth, we are optimistic that the target will be achieved and vaccination coverage will expand.
Vaccination coverage must be increased because as of January 2022 only 124 million people have been vaccinated up to 2 times (according to data from the Covid-19 Handling Task Force Team). This means that almost 50% of Indonesian citizens have been vaccinated. If it is calculated, it will only be at the beginning of next year that the vaccination program will be completed, so it does not meet the government’s target.
Vaccine acceleration must indeed be suppressed because during a pandemic we are hunting with time. First, the ferocity of omicron has claimed lives and the latest variant of the covid-19 virus is spreading 70 times faster than the delta variant. If more and more people are vaccinated, the body will be immune, so it is not easy to get infected with Omicron, of course with the condition that the 10M health protocol is disciplined.
Second, herd immunity must be formed quickly, and the requirement for communal immunity is when at least 75% of the population in one area has been vaccinated. Currently, these conditions have not been met so that the pandemic period is declared not over. Even though this immunity is needed because it can reduce the number of corona transmissions.
The smaller the number of corona transmissions, the better because it not only affects the health sector, but also tourism, the economy, etc. So that Indonesia can rise from the covid storm and slowly recover in terms of finances. Therefore, the Red and White Vaccine is a savior because it can speed up vaccination and form group immunity.
When the Red and White Vaccine is declared safe and efficacious, we are relieved because the vaccines made in Indonesia are not inferior in quality to those made abroad. That way, vaccine supplies are safe and their distribution is faster, thus accelerating the national vaccination program and the formation of herd immunity.
)* The author is a contributor to the Press Circle and Cikini Students