EUA Issuance Prompts Government to Start Vaccination Program

The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) finally released the much-needed emergency use of authorization (EUA) for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac, the CoronaVac. It is ready for use in the mass vaccination program. "We declare that the CoronaVac is safe, even though it will cause mild and moderate side effects," the head of BPOM, Penny Kusumastuti Lukito, revealed in an online press conference on Monday (1/11).

Penny then elaborates that the CoronaVac vaccine had pretty good immunogenicity data, with an efficacy rate of 65.23 percent in Indonesia. She said that the CoronaVac vaccine had shown the ability to create antibodies capable of killing or neutralizing the COVID-19. Penny also compared the results of phase III clinical trials in Bandung with reports on efficacy rates of similar trials in Turkey (91.25 percent) and Brazil (78 percent). "It's still within the limit set by the WHO at 50 percent," she said.