Indonesia to Start Vaccinating Children With the Covid-19 Vaccine

KOMPAS.com – The Indonesian government is aiming to vaccinate at least 32.6 million children against Covid-19, after the Food and Drug Agency or BPOM issued the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to use the vaccines on children.

Indonesian Ministry of Health Vaccination spokesperson Siti Nadia Tarmizi said “[parents] who wish to vaccinate their children can register them on the www.pedulilindungi.id website or sign them up at the nearest health facility.”

However, the government has yet to set a date for the mass vaccination.

According to the www.Indonesia.go.id information website, “BPOM issued the EUA to use the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine on children between the ages of 12 to 17.

Also read: Chinese Workers Denied Access to Covid-19 Vaccines in Indonesia

The recommended dosage [for the vaccination is 600 SU/0.5 mL],” the Agency noted among its reasons for the vaccination.

“The immunogenicity for the vaccine is higher, and therefore better, than the lower dosage of 300 SU/0.5 mL.”

“Clinical phase I and phase II tests of the AE systemic profile showed that 12-17 year old’s are likely to have fevers following the vaccination, compared to 3-5 year old or 6 to 11 year old age brackets.”

SHUTTERSTOCK/Nixx Photography A dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccine

However, BPOM has yet to authorize the vaccination of children in the younger age groups.

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin noted that the ministry has been trying out different types of vaccines for children under the age of 18.

“[We are considering using the Sinovac vaccine on children between the ages of three to 17, while the Pfizer vaccines are considered safe for kids between ages of 12 to 17.” The step comes after China authorized the use of the Sinovac vaccine on children aged between 3 to 17.

Also read: Indonesia to Administer A Million Vaccine Doses A Day in July 

On its part, Pfizer claimed that its Covid-19 vaccine is “100 percent effective” for use on children of ages between 12 to 15 years old, after they observed its use on children in Canada.

The Covid-19 Task Force’s statistics disclosed that 12.6 percent of Indonesian children, or over 250 thousand juveniles, make up the country’s more than two million Covid-19 cases.

671 of them died after testing positive for the coronavirus, particularly its Delta variant, which is known to strike children.

(Writer: Mela Arnani | Editor : Rendika Ferri Kurniawan)

Source: 
https://www.kompas.com/tren/read/2021/06/29/170000265/vaksinasi-covid-19-untuk-anak--target-dan-jenis-vaksin-yang-dipakai?page=all#page2.