Local Governments Accelerate Preparation for Vaccination Officers

Name: Local Governments Accelerate Preparation for Vaccination Officers
Uploaded: 2021-01-06T04:23:04Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: Health workers are waiting for the confirmation of clinical trials and the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine of Sinovac.

Health workers are waiting for the confirmation of clinical trials and the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine of Sinovac.

KOMPAS TEAM

· 4 minutes read

SEMARANG, KOMPAS — A number of local governments in Central Java are accelerating the training for COVID-19 vaccination officers while waiting for the distribution of vaccines from the cold storage of the Central Java provincial government. The local governments have also set up special tasks to monitor and verify reports of post-vaccination effects.

A total of 62,560 doses of Sinovac\'s vaccine from state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma, Bandung, West Java, arrived at the warehouse of the Central Java Health Office in Semarang on Monday. In the next few days, the vaccine will be distributed to 35 regencies/cities in Central Java, while still under special handling. Head of the Central Java Health Office Yulianto Prabowo said Tuesday (5/1/2021) in Semarang that currently 2,785 vaccinators in Central Java are ready to work.

Also read: Regional Administrations Await Technical Instructions from Central Govt

"They have been trained since last September. We are speeding up preparing 6,317 vaccinators for the next stage," said Yulianto.

The government has also published technical guidelines for vaccination in a decree of the Director General of Disease Prevention and Control of the Health Ministry, No. 1/2021 on Technical Guidelines for Vaccination in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

They have been trained since last September. We are speeding up preparing 6,317 vaccinators for the next stage.

According to the plan, the COVID-19 vaccination will be carried out in two periods from January 2021 to March 2022. The first period will be in January-April 2021 for 1.3 million health workers and 17.4 million public officials in 34 provinces. The second period will be 11 months from April 2021 to March 2022 for all residents (Kompas, 4/1).

From Bandung, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said that vaccination in Indonesia in 15 months will be too long. "Can’t we simulate (vaccination) for 12 months or even six months," he said. The West Java provincial government has also added vaccinators. "Previously there were only 1,000 people, now we are training around 11,000 people," said Kamil.

Waiting for approval

As of Monday, PT Bio Farma has distributed 714,240 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Sinovac to a number of provinces. "Even though the vaccine has been distributed, the vaccination awaits an emergency use permit or EUA from the BPOM (Food and Drug Supervisory Agency)," said Head of Corporate Communications Division of PT Bio Farma Iwan Setiawan.

From Palembang, South Sumatra, health workers are waiting for the confirmation of clinical trials and the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine of Sinovac. Chairman of the Indonesian National Nurses Association (PPNI) of South Sumatra, Subhan, said that nurses in South Sumatra agreed to wait for the issuance of a halal recommendation from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and a BPOM permit.

Also read: New Cases Still High, Local Administration Cautious

Contacted separately, the director of Prevention and Control of Direct Communicable Diseases of the Health Ministry, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said in Jakarta that vaccination is indeed awaiting the distribution permit or approval of emergency use from the BPOM to ensure the quality, safety, and efficacy of the vaccine.

A spokesperson for the COVID-19 vaccination from the BPOM, Lucia Rizka Andalusia, said that 1.2 million doses of vaccine made by Sinovac had received lot release certification. This certification is a requirement of the World Health Organization (WHO) for test results or document review to ensure the quality of each vaccine lot/batch.