Merah Putih Vaccine set for Mass Production in 2022
Development progress of the Merah Putih vaccine has been encouraging. Amid the acceleration of vaccination, coordination should be intensified so we do not end up with more unused expired vaccines.
By
KOMPAS TEAM
·5 minutes read
UNIVERSITAS AIRLANGGA
The Red and White Vaccine for handling Covid-19 from the Airlangga University research team is ready to be used for clinical trials. The vaccine seeds were given to PT Biotis Pharmaceuticals for clinical trial production. The delivery of vaccine seeds coincided with the Open Session of the 67th Anniversary of Airlangga University on Campus C Mulyorejo. Surabaya, East Java, Tuesday (9/11/2021).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Merah Putih Covid-19 vaccine developed by Airlangga University, Surabaya, East Java, is ready for clinical trials. If everything runs smooth, the vaccine is expected to be mass produced in the second half of 2022.
The government has set a target that by the end of December, 50 percent of the total vaccination goal will have received a second dose. However, the management and coordination between different government levels need to be stepped up in order to prevent a recurrence of what happened in Kudus regency, Central Java, when 4,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses were wasted due to expiration.
When attending the Open Session of the 67th Anniversary of Airlangga University (Unair) in Surabaya on Tuesday (9/11/2021), Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated that the Merah Putih vaccine’s preclinical trials on animals had indicated good results. Therefore, the process is continued to the stage of clinical trials.
For the purpose of clinical trials, at the open session Unair Rector Mohammad Nasih handed over the seed of the Merah Putih vaccine to PT Biotis Pharmaceuticals. The company will later produce the vaccine for clinical trials.
According to Budi, in the first clinical trial, the vaccine will be administered to 100 people to ascertain the aspect of safety. In the second phase, the vaccine is given to 400 people to find out its immunogenicity. In the third phase, the vaccine is allotted to 3,000 people to determine its efficacy.
Budi said the third-phase clinical trial’s scenarios were being formulated and improved. There is the scenario that the Merah Putih vaccine serves as the third dose or booster for people already receiving first and second doses. The other scenario is that the Merah Putih vaccine is administered to children.
“Clinical trials will be carried out in the first half of next year in Surabaya in hopes that they will run smoothly so that in the following half the vaccine can be mass produced,” Budi said.
Expired vaccines
Budi hoped the development of the Merah Putih vaccine could contribute to the fulfillment of public vaccine needs.
At the end of December, 50 percent of the total vaccination target in the country is expected to have been given a second dose.
Based on Health Ministry data on 9 November, 126.8 million people have already received a first dose, while 80.4 million people have been fully vaccinated with two doses. The total constitutes 38.6 percent of the vaccination target of 208.2 million people to be achieved.
“The government has been accelerating the Covid-19 vaccination program,” said Covid-19 task force spokesman Wiku Adisasmito.
Separately, a Commission E member of the Central Java Regional Council, Yudi Indras Wiendarto, said the unused 4,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses in Kudus regency as a result expiration were a valuable lesson. The case occurred when the Kudus regency administration was incapable of finishing the injection of 50,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses that had to be used up within 18 days. Upon the expiration date of 31 October, 4,000 doses were still left.
Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo affirmed that since its delivery from the central government, the AstraZeneca vaccine had indeed carried a pressing expiration date. As soon as the vaccine arrived at the provincial warehouse, the region was directly asked to collect the batch.
Yudi Indras regretted the thousands of wasted vaccine doses because at the same time the rates of vaccination in a number of regencies in Central Java were still low. “This is a lesson. Coordination between government levels is important,” he said.
Head of the Kudus Health Office, Badai Ismoyo, continues to strive for the acceleration of vaccination. He disclosed that the 4,000 expired AstraZeneca vaccine doses were still kept at the Kudus pharmaceutical warehouse.
Car parking
The Mayor of Surakarta, Central Java, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, warned SDN Nusukan Barat 113 state elementary school in Banjarsari district, Surakarta, for failing to properly apply health protocols during face-to-face
learning (PTM). The warning was effected by Gibran by parking his official car in the middle of the school’s front yard. The Surakarta city government promptly subjected all those in the school to antigen tests.
The slackened application of health protocols was discovered by Gibran when he conducted a spot inspection of SDN Nusukan Barat 113 on Tuesday. He noticed many teachers and students wearing face masks incorrectly.
In fact, many Covid-19 cases have been found as shown by PTM activity surveillance results. Through the surveillance, the Surakarta Health Office detected 107 confirmed Covid-19 cases, comprising teachers and students in several schools.
In the meantime, the Yogyakarta regional government will conduct random tests in schools to anticipate the possibility of Covid-19 infection. The tests follow the emergence of clusters of Covid-19 infection in a number of schools in Sedayu district, Bantul regency, which has spread to other areas.
“The random tests will start this week,” said the head of the Education, Youth and Sports Office of Yogyakarta, Didik Wardaya.
Clusters of Covid-19 infection in Sedayu district have since October appeared in, among other places, SDN Sukoharjo, Sedayu state vocational high school 1 and Sedayu state junior high school 2.
Yogyakarta regional secretary Kadarmanta Baskara Aji said the Covid-19 infection of the clusters in Sedayu had spread to Sleman. More than 100 people tested positive for Covid-19 from the Sedayu clusters.
