Stories Of Sinovac Vaccine Clinical Trial Volunteers, Initially Worried And Doubtful But Finally Feeling Confident

JAKARTA - Until now, clinical trials of the third phase of the vaccine against the COVID-19 vaccine imported from a pharmaceutical company, namely Sinovac, are still ongoing. Even so, there have been many voices against this vaccine from China because it is still considered unsafe and its effectiveness has not been tested.

Hearing this condition, VOI contacted one of the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial participants, Rini Dwi Andini or who is familiarly called Rini.

This 37-year-old woman is a resident of Bandung, West Java and has the opportunity to become a volunteer for the Sinovac vaccine clinical trial.

To VOI, Rini admitted that she had doubts and was worried about participating in the clinical trial process. However, Rini finally decided she was willing to become one of the hundreds of volunteers who were injected with this vaccine.

"Surely at first I was worried and hesitant. But then I looked for information and it happened that my brother's friend worked at Bio Farma," said Rini when contacted, Monday, December 14.

After looking for information and listening to information from various parties, he then got enlightened and decided to become a volunteer. Especially after getting adequate information, Rini also saw that West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil was willing to do so and this then made her determination.

"After I got the information and added more, I saw that Kang Emil was also a volunteer, yes, I was determined to become a volunteer for the Sinovac vaccine clinical trial," he said.

Another reason why he wants to become a vaccine volunteer is because he sees that more and more Indonesians are affected by this pandemic and some have died, both health workers and patients. Not to mention, those who were forced to lose their livelihoods after this pandemic occurred.

So he thought, one way to end all of this was with the COVID-19 vaccine and this made him even more determined to become a vaccine volunteer.

Furthermore, after being unanimous in his determination, last July, he then registered himself via a link distributed via the short message application from the official account of PT Bio Farma. Next, proceed with filling out the form.

"I then filled out forms related to personal data, personal medical history, and family history, such as diabetes and others. After that, I was called for a rapid health check and swab test, lab test," he said.

"Then if the results were good I was called back for an explanation from the medical team and given an explanation of the clinical trial of the vaccine and the signature of the volunteer form," added Rini.

After the administrative stage, then, around last September he was called back to conduct a vaccine injection trial and before the injection was carried out he would be tested in the lab first.

"I have had two injections. In October, blood samples were taken to check for antibodies and God willing, this week, there is also a schedule for taking more blood," he explained.

He also explained that after this vaccine, he didn't really feel there was a significant difference. "It's just normal, the taste. There's no change," he said.

Regarding the compensation she received as a vaccine volunteer, Rini explained, there was no large amount of compensation she received except for transportation money and given snacks and health insurance that could be used if at any time the volunteers needed treatment after being injected.

Furthermore, this private employee also spoke up about the number of people who question the safety of this vaccine. He said, it is natural that people still do not believe in this vaccine. Never mind vaccines, said Rini, many people today don't believe in COVID-19 and think that this virus is just a conspiracy and take it lightly.

So, he asked the government to move quickly to conduct socialization. "So if it is fixed and research standards are ready to be distributed, it is better than now to start the socialization of why we should vaccines and the importance of vaccines," he said.

"If I happen to be on social media, there are those who give heretical opinions about vaccines, I try to give me a point of view and my experience as a volunteer. Because I hope that providing correct and straightforward information can help many people so they don't get consumed by hoax news. Meanwhile, if the medical personnel refuse, I am also confused. Because in my opinion, they should understand more about health, the importance of vaccines, and the dangers of this virus, "concluded Rini.