JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia has approved Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in the elderly, food and drug agency letter shows, potentially changing the country’s strategy, putting the workforce as the first priority got.
That strategy was partly due to limited data on the vaccine’s safety for the elderly, authorities have said.
The Food and Medicines Agency (BPOM) said in a letter seen by Reuters that it had authorized the use of Sinovac’s CoronaVac for the elderly “taking into account the emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic and limited information on its benefits. and safety of that vaccine ”.
It was sent to Sinovac’s Indonesian partner, state-owned Bio Farma.
Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman for the country’s COVID-19 task force, confirmed the letter’s authenticity.
Bio Farma confirmed to have received the letter, but did not provide further details.
A rollout of Sinovac’s vaccine in Indonesia last month involved 3 million doses and targeted medical personnel and officials.
Government data shows that nearly 800,000 received their first shot, but authorities said they will produce 25 million more by the end of March.
Indonesia, which has suffered more than 31,000 deaths from COVID-19, aims to vaccinate more than 180 million people, or roughly two-thirds of its 270 million inhabitants, within a year.
Several countries, such as the United States and Great Britain that have already started vaccinations, are prioritizing older people who are more vulnerable to the respiratory disease.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Health declined to comment, although it said the elderly will receive the vaccine by April.
China’s Sinovac said on Saturday that CoronaVac has been approved for use by the general public by China’s medical product regulator.
A Phase I and II study in China showed that the vaccine can safely elicit an immune response in older participants, but Sinovac cautioned that the data on the protection rate among people 60 years and older was “limited.”
“When the relevant institutions … use this vaccine, the need for inoculation of this product should be assessed in light of the health status and risk of exposure of this age group,” he said.
Pandu Riono, an epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia, said that “if we want to reduce hospital admissions, we need to pursue immunization for the elderly.”
Additional reporting by Maikel Jefriando, Fathin Ungku; edited by Jason Neely