Kemenkes Tunggu Lampu Hijau Dari BPOM Kasih Vaksin Pfizer Ke Anak Usia 6 Bulan-11 Tahun

Photo by Hakan Nural on Unsplash

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health is still waiting for further directions from the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) to provide and distribute the COVID-19 vaccine for children aged six months to 11 years for free.

"As long as BPOM has not given an opinion that this needs to be given, the Ministry of Health does not dare to give because it is afraid (of various possibilities that may occur in children)," said Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin in Jakarta, Thursday, January 5.

Minister of Health Budi also ensured that the Ministry of Health would provide the Pfizer type of COVID-19 vaccine for free to these children because the 2023 budget was sufficient.

"It's just that the provision of the COVID-19 vaccine cannot be given now because there is no further direction from the BPOM," he said as quoted by Antara.

Although previously BPOM had issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) Vaccine Comirnaty permit produced by Pfizer-BioNTech for children in the age range of 6 months to less than 12 years.

In addition, the Ministry of Health must also consider various matters and obtain recommendations from the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI).

According to Budi, once he gets a recommendation to be given, the Ministry of Health will immediately distribute it to children aged six months to 11 years using the Pfizer vaccine.

"We have a budget to be able to vaccinate this child for free, so soon we will process for free vaccination of children who now have Pfizer and we will start with Pfizer first. If later there are other vaccine brands that can be given to our children, we will also give them," said the Minister of Health.

Previously, BPOM had issued EUA for the Comirnaty Vaccine for children aged 5-11 years on November 29, 2022, while for ages 6 months to 4 years it was issued on December 11, 2022.

"This Comirnaty Children vaccine has a different formulation and strength than the Comirnaty Vaccine for adolescents and adults, so the Comirnaty Children Vaccine cannot be used in individuals aged 12 years and over," said Head of BPOM Penny K Lukito.

Penny said the issuance of the EUA was supported by the Expert Team of the National Committee for the Assessment of COVID-19 and ITAGI Vaccines.

He hopes that the two vaccines will increase the choice of primary vaccination for children aged 6 months to less than 12 years, in addition to the Sinovac or Coronavac vaccines.

The released COVID-19 vaccine was developed using an mRNA platform by Pfizer-BioNTech.

"This vaccine helps fulfill the need for a COVID-19 vaccine and the limited types of vaccines that can be used for the current population of children," he said.