The Ministry Of Health Has Not Planned To Use Pfizer For Booster Ages 16-17 Years

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health has not planned to use the Pfizer vaccine as a booster or booster dose for people aged 16-17 years in Indonesia.

"We haven't thought about a policy, because the EUA is difficult to carry out. Operational age is only short of 16-17 years, if you are 18 years old, there is already an implementation", said Director General of Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, August 9.

The statement was in response to the policy of the Indonesian Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) which has allowed the provision of boosters for children aged 16-18 years using the Pfizer Vaccine as of August 2, 2022.

BPOM states that boosters can be given at least 6 months after the second vaccination to children who received the Pfizer vaccine as the 1st and 2nd (homologous) doses of vaccination.

Clinical study data on children aged 16 years and over (test subject C4591031 Sub A) who were given a booster dose of the Comirnaty/Pfizer vaccine showed an efficacy of 95.6 percent in preventing the occurrence of COVID-19.

Real World Evidence data also shows the effectiveness of the Comirnaty/Pfizer vaccine booster by 93 percent in reducing the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19, 92 percent in reducing the risk of severe COVID-19, and 81 percent in reducing deaths due to COVID-19.

Maxi said that the homologous booster provision for the Pfizer vaccine is also an obstacle because the number of users of dose 1 and dose 2 at the age of 16-17 years in Indonesia is relatively small.

Maxi estimates that the total number of recipients of Pfizer's full-dose vaccine between the ages of 16-17 is less than 2 million.

"We find it difficult to implement, because only Pfizer is homologous, while 90 percent of teenagers in Indonesia are injected using the Sinovac vaccine. It's a shame that Pfizer gets a little, less than 2 million children", he said.

Maxi said the Ministry of Health is still focused on meeting the target of booster vaccination coverage for those aged 18 years and over.

"We first finished the first booster, which was still low, still 30 percent (coverage). That was done first", he said.

The booster vaccine has been rolling in Indonesia since January 12, 2022, which is given free of charge to the general public aged 18 years and over, and the administration is adjusted to the availability of the vaccine.

There are six types of booster vaccine regimens used in Indonesia, namely Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Janssen (J&J), and Sinopharm.