The Death Of COVID-19 At High Old Age, BPOM Finally Issues An Emergency Permit For The Sinovac Vaccine

Head of BPOM Penny K. Lukito during a virtual press conference, Sunday, February 7 (Photo: Capture)

JAKARTA - The Food and Drug Administration (BPOM) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Sinovac vaccine to be injected into the elderly.

Previously, Sinovac's emergency permit as a vaccine for COVID-19 was issued on January 11. However, at that time, it was only reserved for the age group between 18 and 59 years.

"On February 5, 2021 yesterday, the POM has issued an approval for the use of the CoronaVac (Sinovac) vaccine for people over 60 years of age with 2 doses of vaccine injections given in an interval of 28 days," said Head of BPOM Penny K. Lukito in a virtual press conference. , Sunday, February 7th.

Penny explained the reason for his party issuing an emergency permit for the Sinovac vaccine to be injected into the elderly. The reason is that almost half of the COVID-19 mortality rate is in the elderly category.

"The elderly group occupies a fairly high portion, relatively higher at around 47.3 percent. This is a necessity for the government of course to determine the provision of available vaccines to also be given to the elderly group," explained Penny.

The basis for determining the emergency permit for the Sinovac vaccine for the elderly is the result of the Sinovac phase III clinical trial specifically for the elderly in Brazil. This clinical trial involved 600 elderly volunteers.

"It has been obtained that giving the vaccine to the age group of 60 years and over states the vaccine is safe and there are no side effects in the form of death, or serious third degree side effects that have been reported," he said.