Turning Point of the Pandemic Is in Sight

AFP/FABRICE COFFRINI

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus talks during a daily press briefing on COVID-19 virus at the WHO headquaters in Geneva on March 11, 2020. – WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on March 11, 2020 that the new coronavirus outbreak can now be characterised as a pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic situation in a number of countries, including Indonesia, is improving. However, the threat of new emerging variants still remains. Therefore, complete vaccination and the provision of vaccine doses need to be accelerated.

GENEVA, THURSDAY — The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the world was in a better position now than it has ever been in dealing with Covid-19 and has reached the turning point in the pandemic. However, the pandemic conditions are still extremely dynamic, and there is even a possibility that new variants will emerge.

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People are therefore reminded to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and especially get their third dose. The government aims to administer the third dose to 100 million people by the end of the year by using domestically made vaccines.

A decline was also recorded in the number of cases, which fell 28 percent to only 3.1 million cases in recent weeks.

According to WHO records, global deaths from Covid-19 fell 22 percent in the past week to 11,000 deaths, the lowest since March 2020 when the disease was declared a pandemic. A decline was also recorded in the number of cases, which fell 28 percent to only 3.1 million cases in recent weeks.

"We are not there yet, but the end is in sight," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a weekly briefing on Wednesday (14/9/2022) at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. " Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the [finish] line and reap the rewards of all our hard work," he said.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said in Jakarta on Thursday (15/9) that the ministry was committed to using domestic Covid-19 vaccines, namely Indovac and Inavac, as booster doses.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin

"The Ministry of Health is committed to supporting [the domestic vaccine industry] in moving forward. After the vaccines are produced, our commitment will be to use the vaccine. This year, we will buy the vaccines [to use] as boosters," he said.

Booster drive

The booster rollout will continue to be accelerated. The pace of administering booster doses is currently slowing in the country. At the end of August, third dose vaccination averaged just 120,000 jabs per day. In comparison, 1 million third doses were administered per day in April.

“Our body's immunity may decrease early next year. Therefore, we must immediately get a booster. We will pursue a booster target of 100 million doses by the end of the year," he said.

This means that only 23 percent of the population have gotten their booster jab.

Third-dose vaccination has reached just 62.1 million people. This means that only 23 percent of the population have gotten their booster jab.

F.X. Sudirman, the president director of PT Biotis Pharmaceutical Indonesia, said government support for using domestically developed Covid-19 vaccines was urgently needed. He welcomed the government's commitment to using local vaccines.

Vaccine manufacturer Biotis will be producing the Inavac Merah Putih vaccine, which it developed in collaboration with Airlangga University. The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) plans to issue emergency use authorization (EUA) for Inavac as a primary vaccine in early October.

SEKRETARIAT PRESIDEN

President Joko Widodo visited the Bio Farma laboratory, Bandung, West Java on Tuesday (11/8/2020).

In addition to Inavac, another Covid-19 vaccine being developed locally is the Indovac vaccine, developed by PT Bio Farma with the United States’ Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). It is estimated that an EUA for this vaccine will be issued at the end of this month.

Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Director General Lucia Rizka Andalucia at the Health Ministry said the government had prepared a budget for the procurement of domestically produced Covid-19 vaccines. "Moreover, it is projected that the level of immunity will begin to decline in January next year," she said.

Separately, Erlina Burhan, executive chair of the Indonesian Medical Association’s Covid-19 handling task force, said booster doses were effective in protecting people against severe illness and death from Covid-19, and that this applied to both the elderly and the general population.

“The AstraZeneca vaccine, or mRNA vaccines, provide very high protection against disease and death from the Omicron variant. Meanwhile, getting a booster dose is very effective in protecting people from developing severe [symptoms] or reduce the need for treatment,” she said.

Another study has found that getting three doses of different types of vaccines provided almost equal protection, including Moderna with 91.1 percent efficacy, Pfizer (85.7 percent), AstraZeneca (84.8 percent) or Sinovac (75.8 percent).

One study has shown that booster doses are 84.2 percent effective in protecting the general public, while the efficacy is 87.4 percent for the elderly. Another study has found that getting three doses of different types of vaccines provided almost equal protection, including Moderna with 91.1 percent efficacy, Pfizer (85.7 percent), AstraZeneca (84.8 percent) or Sinovac (75.8 percent).

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

Medical personnel inject the third dose of COVID-19 vaccine (booster) to workers at the Kompas Tower, Jakarta, on Tuesday (25/1/2022).

The WHO has found that vaccination and several other therapies have helped stem Covid-19 infections and deaths. However, it has warned that excessive euphoria could result in low testing and surveillance, as has been the case in many countries, and could reverse the positive achievements made against the disease.

"If we don’t take this opportunity now, we run the risk of more variants, more deaths, more disruption, and more uncertainty," Tedros said. (MHD/TAN/MTK)

(This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswo)