Vaccination Target Data Incomplete

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

The vaccinator shows the Covid-19 CoronaVac vaccine vial made by Sinovac Biotech at Tanah Abang Market Blok A, Central Jakarta, Wednesday (17/2/2021).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The issue of data completeness on public servants and elderly citizens must be addressed immediately so that the second phase of Covid-19 vaccination runs optimally. Not all vaccines have been distributed.

Vaccination spokesperson of the Health Ministry, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said in Jakarta on Thursday (18/2/2021) that 1,161,088 people were vaccinated in the first stage of vaccination or 79 percent of coverage. Meanwhile, 613,646 people received a second injection or 41.7 percent of the coverage target.

Vaccination for public servants is under way for traders at Tanah Abang Market, Jakarta, and a number of officials in ministries/agencies. Meanwhile, vaccinations for other groups await the completeness of the data submitted by each related institution.

Also read: Balance Vaccinations by Complying with Health Protocols

Also read: Bio Farma Vaccine Granted Emergency Use Approval

"Vaccination for public servants and elderly citizens is not yet massive because the data is still being finalized. The vaccine has not been distributed yet. It is estimated that it will only start on Saturday (20/2),” Nadia said.

The government estimates that 16.9 million public servants will be vaccinated in the second phase of vaccination. They include market traders, educators, religious leaders and religious extension workers, representatives of the people and government officials, security officers, fire fighters and village heads, public transportation workers, athletes, and journalists.

Vaccination for public servants and elderly citizens is not yet massive because the data is still being finalized.

East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Provincial Health Office head Messerassi BV Ataupah said Covid-19 vaccination in NTT had been hindered by data collection and vaccine availability. The number of health workers being vaccinated exceeds those who were recorded. Geographic conditions is also an obstacle.

Independently procured vaccine

According to Nadia, 7 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine are ready to be distributed by state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma to a number of priority areas for mitigating Covid-19. Regarding the order to procure vaccines for 122,504,000 doses of Sinovac, which is scheduled to be available in January 2022, is accelerated in December 2021. For 50 million doses of Novavax vaccine, they can be received in June 2021.

Meanwhile, the vaccine from the Covax multilateral scheme, which was originally scheduled to arrive in April 2021, according to the latest information, will be able to be received by the end of February or March 2021. "With a total of 2.5 million to 5 million doses, we are currently in the process of negotiating the first delivery phase," she said.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

A medical officer injects the Covid-19 vaccine into a trader at Tanah Abang Market Blok A, Central Jakarta, Wednesday (17/2/2021).

The vaccine made by AstraZeneca will be sent in July 2021. According to the availability of the vaccine, there are two periods of vaccine administration, the first stage is for health workers together with the elderly as well as public servants and the general public. There are 81 million doses of vaccine scheduled to arrive in Indonesia in the second trimester of 2022.

With regard to the plan for independently procured vaccines or mutual cooperation vaccines, Nadia said the type of vaccine must be different from the government\'s allocation. The technique of implementing independently-procured vaccination will not interfere with the vaccination program. Of the 12,000 existing clinics, 4,000 of them are used for the government vaccination sites. The mutual cooperation vaccine is allocated to around 2 million workers.

The coordinator for the Assessment of Clinical Trials for Drugs at the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency, Siti Asfijah, said that the mutual cooperation vaccine must follow the same procedure before receiving emergency use permit.

Also read: 9 Million People To Be Vaccinated Soon

Also read: Curbing COVID-19 transmission

Indonesian disaster sociologist who teaches at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Sulfikar Amir, expressed concern that the independently-procured vaccination plan will interfere with the free vaccination program for the community. "Even though the government says independently-procured vaccines will not interfere with the government\'s free vaccine program, infrastructure-wise, it will mess up. Not to mention the question of data collection," said Sulfikar.

All vaccination resources in Indonesia should be directed to meet the vaccination needs of priority groups as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, a research team from the School of Medicine, Padjadjaran University, will clinical test the third phase of the Covid-19 vaccine produced by Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical, China, involving 4,000 volunteers in Jakarta and Bandung city, West Java.

( TAM/ RAM/ DIT/ TAN/AIK)

This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo.