Vaccination Waiting For BPOM Emergency Permit Even Though Vaccines Have Been Spread To Many Regions

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JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the vaccination program from the Food and Drug Administration (BPOM), Rizka Andalusia, said that the COVID-19 vaccine from Sinovac has not been used immediately. Although it has been distributed to a number of areas in the country.

He said, this vaccine was only used after his party issued an emergency use authorization (UEA).

"In accordance with Presidential Decree Number 99 Year Number 99 Year 2020 concerning the procurement and implementation of vaccinations in the context of overcoming COVID-19, vaccination can only be carried out if the vaccine has received the UAE from the BPOM," said Rizka in a press conference that was broadcast online on the YouTube account of the Presidential Secretariat, Monday, January 4th.

According to him, the distribution of vaccines, which began on Sunday, January 3, was carried out as an effort to accelerate the vaccination program. Apart from that, this is also done as a step to prepare vaccines in various regions considering that Indonesia is an archipelago country.

"We need to convey that considering Indonesia is an archipelagic country and of course a big effort is needed to be able to distribute vaccines to the point of injection, therefore, vaccine distribution has begun to be carried out to various regions," he said.

Furthermore, Rizka emphasized that BPOM will continue to oversee and ensure the quality of the vaccines that will be used by the public. Currently, BPOM is still waiting for the completion of the data analysis of the third phase of clinical trials conducted in Bandung to confirm the efficacy or efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine.

"These data are needed in the context of issuing an emergency use agreement or EUA," he said.

Previously reported, a number of regions have begun to receive the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine originating from Sinovac and one of them is South Sumatra Province, especially in Palembang City.

A total of 30,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine arrived at the vaccine storage warehouse of the South Sumatra Health Office in Palembang City on Monday morning and will then be distributed to the seven districts and cities implementing the first phase of vaccination.

Head of the Surveillance and Immunization Section of the South Sumatra Health Office, Yusri, said that the 30,000 doses of vaccine sent by Biofarma were part of the 58,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine for South Sulawesi Province. According to him, the delivery of vaccine rations to South Sumatra was carried out in two stages because the available storage capacity was limited.