The world is watching Indonesia this week as it kicks off a COVID-19 mass vaccination program that takes a very different approach to other countries that have begun inoculating their citizens.
Younger people will be first in line to receive the jab in the initial phase of the rollout that began on Wednesday, a strategy that stands in stark contrast to most other nations that are starting with older and more vulnerable populations.
Health officials the archipelago of nearly 270 million people say the distribution of the jab developed by China’s Sinovac will start with the working age population because regulators have not yet approved it as safe for the over-60s.
Frontline workers will be first to receive to receive the shot, followed by those aged 18 to 59.
It is hoped that vaccinating people who are more mobile will help to more rapidly slow down the rate of transmission in the archipelago of nearly 270 million people, as well as speeding up economic recovery.
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“Indonesia is targeting the productive age at 18 to 59 years instead of elderly people because we have not completed the stage three clinical trials for people this age range with the Sinovac vaccine,” Ministry of Health spokesperson Dr Nadia Wikeko told Al Jazeera. “We are still waiting for the BPOM (Indonesia’s agency for drug and food control) review to see if the vaccine can be used safely for people over 60.”
President Joko Widodo, 59, received the country’s first COVID-19 jab on Wednesday at the state palace in Jakarta along with his health minister and several senior officials, as well as business and religious leaders. “I don’t feel it at all,” he said with a laugh as he was injected with the first of two doses on live TV.
Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto told Channel News Asia in October that the priority would be frontline healthcare workers and people who work in medical facilities, followed by “members of the public in the high risk category, namely workers between 18 and 59 years old.”
Indonesia is the country worst affected by coronavirus in South-East Asia, with 846,765 confirmed cases and 24,645 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University figures. And the outbreak is believed to be even larger than figures suggest because of low testing rates.
The country hopes to inoculate nearly 182 million people, or 67 per cent of the population, over the next 15 months in order to reach herd immunity.
“I don’t think anybody can get too dogmatic about what is the right approach,” Peter Collignon, professor of infectious diseases at Australian National University, told Reuters.
He said that Indonesia’s different approach to the US and UK would be of value in showing any benefits of an alternative strategy.
Faisal Rachman, an economist with Bank Mandiri, said that vaccinating younger people “could jack up the economic recovery faster because household consumption contributes more than 50% to Indonesia’s economy.”
But others were sceptical about whether the approach can achieve herd immunity, since we still don’t know whether people who have been vaccinated can still transmit the coronavirus.
“There could be the risk of people still capable of spreading the disease to the others,” said Hasbullah Thabrany, chief of the Indonesian Health Economic Association.
Kim Mulholland, a professor of vaccinology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who is based at the University of Melbourne, told Al Jazeera that the “argument that older people should not be vaccinated because they have not been included in trials in Indonesia is not valid.”
“We know that older people who have already been vaccinated in China and the Middle East have responded as well to the vaccines as younger people,” she added.
Indonesian regulators approved the CoronaVac shot this week, announcing that its efficacy stood at a relatively low 65.3 per cent. The Muslim-majority nation’s top religious body also approved the vaccine as halal in a move that could help convince parts of society that have previously been sceptical of vaccines.
Indonesia has signed deals for nearly 330 million vaccine doses from pharmaceutical companies including UK-based AstraZeneca, Pfizer and other Chinese suppliers including Sinopharm.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMioAFodHRwczovL3d3dy5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS93b3JsZC9jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy9nbG9iYWwvaW5kb25lc2lhLXRha2VzLXZlcnktZGlmZmVyZW50LWFwcHJvYWNoLXRvLW1hc3MtdmFjY2luYXRpb24tcHJvZ3JhbS9uZXdzLXN0b3J5LzliYzYyMDgxNjdmMzBhZWNlNjU2YzRmYTgxODVlYmQz0gGgAWh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLm5ld3MuY29tLmF1L3dvcmxkL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzL2dsb2JhbC9pbmRvbmVzaWEtdGFrZXMtdmVyeS1kaWZmZXJlbnQtYXBwcm9hY2gtdG8tbWFzcy12YWNjaW5hdGlvbi1wcm9ncmFtL25ld3Mtc3RvcnkvOWJjNjIwODE2N2YzMGFlY2U2NTZjNGZhODE4NWViZDM?oc=5
2021-01-13 10:20:20Z
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