The COVID-19 Vaccine That Indonesia Will Use Is Safe To Try On Animals
JAKARTA - PT Bio Farma has appointed Padjajaran University (Unpad) as the organizer of the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial. The head of the Unpad clinical trial research team, Kusnandi Rusmil, explained that this vaccine has been tested on animals and is declared safe.
Before it can be widely used, vaccine development must go through both preclinical and clinical stages. At the preclinical stage, the stability of the vaccine antigen is checked, both physically and chemically. As a result, the vaccine is physically and chemically stable.
"The test results show that the vaccines injected into animals remain safe and form anti-substances," said Kusnadi Rusmil as quoted from the Unpad website, Wednesday, July 22.
After the use of the vaccine is declared safe in animals, the vaccine will be tested on humans. Kusnadi said, the human clinical trial process consists of three phases. The first phase, tested on 100 adults.
If it is declared safe, the trial will enter the second phase, which is testing for at least 400 people. After being successful again, the next trial went into phase 3, with the number of volunteers reaching thousands of people.
"Currently, the research work plan is awaiting approval from the Unpad Research Ethics Committee. The plan is, as many as 1,620 volunteers in Bandung City will be subject to vaccine testing," said Kusnadi.
This vaccine was imported by PT Bio Farma from the Sinovac company from China. Bio Farma received 2,400 vaccines on 19 July 2020 and conducted clinical trials with Unpad, which has been testing vaccines for 20 years.
Kusnadi explained the reasons for choosing a vaccine from China. He said that currently only a vaccine from China is ready for phase 3 clinical trials. He said that the development of the Covid-19 vaccine requires a long test.
"Why use a vaccine from China? Because only China has conducted research up to phase III. We must quickly use this vaccine because we have many victims," said Kusnadi.