Indonesian Student Indra Rudiansyah Is Involved In Making Potential COVID-19 Vaccines In Oxford

Photo illustration (National Cancer / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The story of Indra Rudiansyah went viral. The doctoral student from Indonesia majoring in Clinical Medicine from Oxford University is involved in the development of the corona virus vaccine. In collaboration with AstraZeneca, the potential vaccine developed by Indra and Oxford is said to be at the forefront. Indra's story went viral via the Twitter account @wpusparini.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in June that AstraZeneca vaccine development was the most advanced. Indra spoke to CNN Indonesia TV about his involvement in the vaccine project. He was not involved from the start. When a new pandemic hit, Oxford only involved the people behind the Emerging Pathogen Disease team.

"The beginning of COVID-19 appeared in early January. My colleagues have started this project. But, this is specifically for the Emerging Pathogen Disesase team. If I am in the Malaria team, not the special team on COVID," said Indra in an interview quoted by CNN Indonesia, Wednesday, July 22.

Indra explained that the special team for the corona vaccine was open. The development project leader opens opportunities for all students, staff, or post doctoral students to get involved. "I registered. Then I made a list of what skills I have," said Indra.

In the team, Indra served in the testing section. He is responsible for monitoring the antibody response of people who have been given the vaccine. An important task, said Indra. Because, it is the testing section that assesses how effective a potential vaccine is and its side effects.

"I got the part of examining the response of volunteers. So people who have been immunized are sampled by medical personnel, then processed. The serum is used by me to see whether they respond to the vaccine is positive or not to the vaccine," said Indra.

Indra also revealed that one of the keys to Oxford's success in developing this potential vaccine in a relatively fast time, namely the number of team members that reached hundreds of people. According to Indra, it usually takes at least five years to obtain phase I clinical trial data for a new vaccine. The Oxford and AstraZeneca team was successful in six months.