Easier Vaccine Provision Following Sinopharm's EUL List

Illustration (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Decision of the World Health Organization (WHO) to approve the Sinopharm vaccine on the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) will facilitate the provision of vaccines.

This was conveyed by the Coordinator of Management Office (PMO) of public communication committee handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery (KPC-PEN), Arya Sinulingga reported antara.

"That way we hope 'herd immunity' (group immunity) can be achieved soon," he said in a written statement received in Jakarta, Monday, May 10, evening.

According to him WHO has included sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine on the emergency use list while giving the green light for this vaccine to be launched globally.

Sinopharm vaccine is a production of Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG).

He welcomed the decision. Even before, BPOM had also issued an emergency permit against the Sinopharm vaccine.

According to him this will certainly facilitate the provision of vaccine stocks. Thus vaccination efforts can take place well in the world, especially in Indonesia.

He added that so far the Indonesian government has obtained a vaccine of 75,910,500 million doses of vaccine.

The details of vaccine doses are Sinovac as much as 68,500,000 doses, AstraZeneca COVAX as much as 6,410,500 doses and Sinopharm 1 million doses.

"By being vaccinated, not only protect ourselves, but also the people around us," arya sinulingga said.

The WHO's official website says that the addition of this vaccine has the potential to speed up access to the COVID-19 vaccine quickly for countries that want to protect health workers and at-risk populations.

EUL is a prerequisite for the supply of vaccines to COVAX facilities. It also allows countries to expedite their own regulatory approvals to import and manage the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to the Head of POM RI Agency, Penny K Lukito, Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine has previously undergone phase 3 clinical trials in the United Arab Emirates and several other countries with 42 thousand test subjects.

As a result, the Sinopharm vaccine showed efficacy at 78.02 percent and immunogenicity measurements after 14 days of injection of a second dose, seropositive rate (percentage of subjects formed antibodies) neutralization was 99.52 percent in adults and 100 percent in the elderly.

In addition, in general the safety of vaccines can be well tolerated and the frequency of occurrence of each of these side effects is 0.01 percent or very rare categorized, as well as at the age of over 60 years there are no reports of grade 3 local side effects.

From the clinical trials, pom agency together with the Expert Team in the National Committee of COVID-19 Vaccine Assessors, Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI), and other related clinicians concluded the vaccine provides a good safety and efficacy profile.

"Based on the results of the evaluation, as well as consideration of risk benefits, the POM Agency has issued an emergency use approval or EUA on April 29, 2021 with the number EUA2159000143A2 for vaccines with a package of 1 vial containing 0.5 ml (1 dose) of vaccine," penny said.

Approved indications are to form antibodies, which can provide immunity against the SARS CoV-2 virus and prevent COVID-19 in adults over 18 years of age by administering two doses at a duration of 21 to 28 days.