JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) stated that the stock of COVID-19 vaccines for children aged 6-11 years has been empty for months. An epidemiologist from Griffith University Australia, Dicky Budiman, said this condition could not be allowed by the government.
This is because the implementation of restrictions on community activities (PPKM) in Indonesia has been lifted. Meanwhile, a number of countries, one of which is China, are experiencing an increase in COVID-19 cases due to the new coronavirus variant.
"This is risky and tends to be dangerous when we do not increase this capital immunity because often with the repeal of PPKMtriction, then it is also still uncertain that the COVID-19 situation is global, so we are getting more and more vulnerable actually," said Dicky when contacted, Tuesday, January 3.
Although in the results of the latest survey series as of July 2022, Indonesia's population immunity touched 98.5 percent, Dicky warned that the condition of community immunity against the transmission of COVID-19 would decrease over time.
"Remember, the capital immunity has decreased. This is what further places the age group of children to be prone to transmission, especially activities that have returned to normal. This is what the government should think about in terms of vaccination," explained Dicky.
Regarding the current case, Sinovac's stock, which is a special vaccine for children aged 6-11 years, is empty, according to Dicky, the government cannot simply wait for the completion of clinical trials of domestic vaccine production which are currently still in process until they can be used.
"Inevitably what must be done, whether it's domestic or imported from abroad because the urgency is no different from in 2021, at the beginning we imported Sinovac vaccines to protect adults, children were the same," he said.
Previously, the Head of the Communication and Public Service Bureau of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Siti Nadia Tarmizi responded to the empty stock of COVID-19 vaccines for vaccinating children aged 6-11 years in Indonesia.
Nadia admitted that the stock of Sinovac vaccines designated as vaccines for children aged 6-11 years had run out since a few months ago. Now, the government is still waiting for a new vaccine produced by PT Bio Farma to continue vaccinating children 6-11 years old.
"We are still waiting for domestic production to be used immediately," said Nadia in a short message, Monday, January 2.
Currently, the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) has granted permission for the COVID-19 vaccine for children 6 months to 11 years old using Pfizer. Pfizer's stock in Indonesia is also still declared sufficient.
However, the Ministry of Health has not issued a decree to local governments to use vaccines other than the Sinovac type to children 6-11 years old.
"We are still waiting for recommendations from WHO and studies from ITAGI (Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization) and IDAI (Indonesian Pediatrician Association) to use Pfizer at the age of over 6 years," said Nadia.
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