Sinopharm, Paid Vaccines Considered Unethical During The COVID-19 Pandemic
JAKARTA - PT Kimia Farma Tbk will open the Individual Mutual Assistance Vaccination (VGR) service or paid vaccination starting today, Monday, July 12. The mutual cooperation vaccination program was decided to use Sinopharm's vaccine.
However, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) assessed that the existence of a paid COVID-19 vaccine for individuals was considered unethical and confusing. Especially, in the midst of a difficult situation due to the current pandemic.
"Paid vaccines are unethical, in the midst of a raging pandemic. Therefore, paid vaccines must be rejected," said YLKI Daily Executive Chairman Tulus Abadi, Sunday, July 11.
According to him, this policy can make people lazy to vaccinate. Because, for free vaccines, many don't want it, let alone pay for it. In addition, Tulus accused the individual category of mutual cooperation vaccine policy to be confusing because there are two COVID-19 vaccines, free and paid. In terms of public communication, he called this 'very bad'. "Paid vaccines can also cause distrust in the community, that paid vaccines are considered to be of better quality, and free ones are of poorer quality," explained Tulus. paid for individual categories are cancelled. He suggested returning to the original policy, namely companies that pay, not individuals. It is known that the new rules regarding 'paid' mutual cooperation vaccinations for individuals are contained in the Minister of Health Regulation (Permenkes) Number 19 of 2021 concerning Implementation of Vaccinations in the Framework of Combating the COVID-19 Pandemic. 19 which is the second amendment to Permenkes Number 10 of 2021.
In the Minister of Health Regulation Number 19 of 2021, that mutual cooperation vaccination is a vaccination for individuals or individuals whose funding is borne by the person concerned. In addition, mutual cooperation vaccination is also intended for employees, families, or other related individuals in the family whose funding is borne or charged to the agency. law or business entity.
There are 8 Kimia Farma clinics that will provide paid vaccinations or individual mutual assistance vaccinations, namely:
1. KFD Clinic in Pulo Gadung (East Jakarta),
2. KFD Monday (Central Jakarta),3. KF Blok M (South Jakarta),4. KF Supratman (Bandung),5. KF Citarum (Semarang),6. KF Sukoharjo (Solo),7. KF Sedati (Surabaya),8. KF Batubulan (Bali).
"The total individual VGR capacity of these eight clinics is 1,700 participants per day," said Acting (Plt) President Director of Kimia Farma Diagnostics Agus Chandra.
About Sinopharm vaccine and its price
The Sinopharm vaccine is a COVID-19 vaccine that uses inactivated viral particles to induce immunity to the virus, without risking a serious disease response. According to the WHO website, multi-country phase 3 trials have shown that two doses of Sinopharm at 21-day intervals have as much efficacy as 79 percent of the COVID-19 Sinopharm vaccine has obtained a halal certificate from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI). In addition, the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) has also declared the vaccine safe to use. In the Decree of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia Number HK.01.07/Menkes/4643/2021 concerning the Determination of the Purchase Price of the Sinopharm Production Vaccine, it is explained that the purchase price of the Sinopharm production vaccine is Rp. 321,660 per dose. dose. For self-vaccination, each recipient will receive twice the vaccine dose. This means that the price of mutual cooperation vaccines that must be paid per individual is Rp. 879,140 for two doses of the vaccine. Comparison of Sinopharm, Sinovac and AstraZeneca
Compared to the two other vaccines currently being used in Indonesia, namely Sinovac and AstraZeneca, the Sinopharm vaccine has a higher efficacy. Two doses of Sinovac vaccine are known to have an efficacy or efficacy rate of 65.3 percent. While the AstraZeneca vaccine has an efficacy of 62 percent. in people who received two full doses and close to 90 percent in people who received one half or one full dose. AstraZeneca used these two percentages to draw an average 76 percent efficacy rate, quoted from Healthline. Meanwhile, the most common side effects of the three vaccines were aches and pains at the injection site. For the Sinopharm vaccine, serious side effects are possible. Symptoms include nausea, rare neurological disorders, and blood clots. However, this condition is very rare. Generally, the effects felt by the recipient are headache, fatigue, and injection site reactions. As for the Sinovac vaccine, aches and pains at the injection site are the most common side effects. Other reported systemic reactions to the Sinovac vaccine are fatigue, diarrhea, and muscle weakness. While the AstraZeneca vaccine has common side effects, such as injection site pain, headache, and fever.