Drug and Food Supervisory Agency (BPOM) head Cent K. Lukito. (Antara Picture)
BY: NATASIA CHRISTY, WAHYUNI
MARCH 15, 2021
Jakarta. The Drug and Food Supervisory Company, or BPOM, decided on Monday to delay the use of Covid-19 vaccine produced by UK pharmaceutical business AstraZeneca amid reports of embolism after it was administered.
Indonesia got 1.1 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine last week through international procurement scheme Covax.
BPOM head Penny Lukito stated the decision was taken as precautions while awaiting further recommendation from the World Health Organization and the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) concerning the safety of the vaccine.
” We are communicating with the WHO and the SAGE out of preventative measures. The results will then be sent to inter-agency team and the Health Ministry who will then decide whether AstraZeneca vaccine can be used in the national vaccination drive,” Penny said in a hearing with your home of Representatives’ health commission in Jakarta.
She said she might not set a timetable for the final say concerning this concern.
” Hopefully it will not take long,” she said.
Her remarks ran counter with previous statement by Health Ministry spokesperson Siti Nadia Tirmidzi, who said on Friday the vaccine will be administered regardless of safety issues in Europe.
Siti argued that the BPOM had actually issued emergency situation use authorization for AstraZeneca vaccine a day after it arrived at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Banten from the Netherlands.
The latest BPOM decision indicates that Indonesia signs up with a list of at least 10 nations consisting of surrounding Thailand who suspend using AstraZeneca vaccine.
In the very same hearing, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin expressed his hope that the WHO will decide immediately about the safety of AstraZeneca vaccine.
” I hope it will come out right away due to the fact that AstraZeneca vaccine in our stock ends in the end of May,” Budi said.
He said he is aware that UK regulator and the European Medicines Agency had actually found no proof of a link in between the vaccine and blood clots and advised the extension of the jab, however the BPOM chose to put a delay pending worldwide examination.
Health Ministry figures reveal that 4.17 million people have actually received at least one shot of Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech since the project began on January 13.
The federal government has administered 5.73 million doses of vaccine since Monday.
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