Vaccines Sent, Regions Have Set Vaccination Date, But Everything Still Depends On BPOM Permit

Illustration of the COVID-19 (Unsplash) vaccine

JAKARTA - PT Bio Farma has distributed the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccine to 34 provinces in Indonesia. Some provinces have received the COVID-19 vaccine in their regions.

A number of provinces will compactly begin the injection of the Sinovac brand of COVID-19 vaccine on January 14.

The areas ready for vaccination on January 14 are Central Java, South Sulawesi, Banten, DI Yogyakarta, South Sumatra, Jambi, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, and Maluku.

Spokesperson for COVID-19 Vaccination from the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that the Ministry of Health had not yet determined an exact date regarding the implementation of vaccinations.

"There is no target date for vaccination. Because we are still waiting for an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration," said Siti Nadia when confirmed by VOI, Monday, January 4.

Regarding the readiness of a number of regions to launch COVID-19 vaccine injections on January 14, Siti Nadia invited this.

"Later, the official instruction will come from the national. Regions may state their respective readiness. This is because the estimated emergency permit from BPOM is expected to be issued in mid-January," said Siti Nadia.

Nadia explained that the Ministry of Health has certain considerations when distributing bulk vaccines even though there is no emergency permit from the BPOM. Vaccine distribution, which began on Sunday, January 3, was carried out as an effort to accelerate the vaccination program so that no regions receive the vaccine too late.

In addition to the distribution process, the Ministry of Health, continued Nadia, also ensures that the cold storage room for the COVID-19 vaccine remains safe to the remote health centers. This is because his party has carried out a verification and study process at health facilities throughout Indonesia since the beginning before the COVID-19 vaccine was distributed.

"We have conducted verification and of course the initial study, this cold chain is good in cold rooms in provinces to regencies and cities, as well as the cold chain of vaccine storage refrigerators is available," he said.

For vaccine storage areas in provinces and districts and cities as well as health facilities in the regions, they are placed separately from storage rooms for the routine basic immunization program vaccines.

"So this has been prepared in health care facilities to store the COVID-19 vaccine," he said.

Currently, the process of granting the Sinovac vaccine emergency clearance has entered the completion stage. The EUA permit for the Sinovac vaccine will be issued after seeing data on the results of phase 3 clinical trials conducted in Bandung and a number of other countries such as China, Turkey and Brazil.

Not only that, the implementation of vaccination is also still awaiting the results of a study from the halal aspect by the Institute for the Assessment of Food, Medicine and Cosmetics, the Indonesian Ulema Council (LPPOM MUI).

The following is a breakdown of the number of vaccine doses distributed throughout the province:

Delivery January 3, 2021 (14 Provinces): 1. Central Java 62,560 vials 2. East Java 77,760 vials 3. Bali 31,000 vials 4. Banten 14,560 vials 5. Bengkulu 20,280 vials 6. West Sumatra 36,920 vials 7. South Sumatra 30,000 vials 8. Lampung 40,520 vials 9. Riau 20,000 vials 10. Jambi 20,000 vials 11. North Kalimantan 10,680 vials 12. Papua 14,680 vials 13. North Maluku 7,160 vials 14. Maluku 15,120 vials

Deliveries January 4, 2021 (18 Provinces): 1. DKI Jakarta 39,200 vials 2. Yogyakarta 26,800 vials 3. NTB 28,760 vials 4. NTT 13,200 vials 5. Gorontalo 4,800 vials 6. South Kalimantan 25,000 vials 7. East Kalimantan 25,520 vials 8. West Kalimantan 10,000 vials 9. Central Kalimantan 14,460 vials 10. North Sumatra 10,000 vials 11. Southeast Sulawesi 20,400 vials 12. South Sulawesi 30,000 vials 13. Central Sulawesi 11,000 vials 14. North Sulawesi 13,200 vials 15. Bangka Belitung 6,280 vials 16. Aceh 14,000 vials 17. Kepri 13,000 vials 18. West Papua 7,160 vials