The Side Effect Of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 Vaccine Revealed, Minister Of Health: Larger Benefits

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin. (Between-Puspa Perwitasari)

Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca has far greater benefits than the risk of side effects that may occur in the health aspects of vaccine recipients.

This statement was made by Minister of Health Budi in response to reports of the recognition of the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical industry that the COVID-19 vaccine they produced had rare side effects.

"But seen by the medical world, WHO is the one who directly approves, this vaccine is said to have greater benefits than risk, so that at that time permission was given to be carried out around the world," he said after fulfilling a limited meeting invitation with President Jokowi at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Friday, May 3, which was confiscated by Antara.

Budi said the rare risk of blood clots due to thrombosis syndrome with thrombocytopenia (thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome/TTS) associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine has been revealed by experts in the field of vaccination immunology since the pandemic era hit Indonesia.

Following up on this risk, said Budi, the government implemented a global standard surveillance protocol, including involving an independent team, the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI), which is filled with experts in the immunology sector for the supervisory process in Indonesia.

"We ask to provide a study, what are the new vaccines that come in, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, especially since the new technologies that are mRNA? And the conclusion is that they are the same, we see benefits and risks," he said.

This conclusion, said Budi, also considers the number of COVID-19 patients who during the pandemic hit hundreds of millions of people.

Regarding the relatively small risk of the COVID-19 vaccine, Budi said it was greatly influenced by the genetic factors of the beneficiaries, because it depended on the suitability.

"It's the same if we have surgery too. I have heart surgery, at the time of surgery we know there are risks, but benefits to cure our disease, to save our lives, are much greater," he said.

On that occasion, Budi conveyed the results of data checking from the relevant authorities that the TTS incident in Indonesia had not been found until now, although abroad the side effects may occur.

"Well, maybe it was an incident in a country that made the news and maybe because it was specifically for their population, maybe some of the genetics had an impact. But I checked ITAGI, nothing," he said.

Reported by the Telegraph page, AstraZeneca is facing a class action related to allegations of side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with the University of Oxford a few years ago.

In the court document, AstraZeneca admitted that her COVID-19 vaccine caused quite rare side effects.

Meanwhile, the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine with the Non-Replicating Viral Vector platform in Indonesia, it is reported that the Ministry of Health has injected 70 million doses out of a total of 453 million doses of vaccine that have been injected into the public.