Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Ministry of Health (Ministry of Health) said he was waiting for recommendations from the Indonesia Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI) and the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI) regarding the use of the Covid-19 vaccine for people under the age of 18.
While ITAGI is still awaiting further studies on such a possibility, though China has given the green light on the use of Sinovac-made Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 3-17 years.
“Still waiting for ITAGI and IDAI,” said Vaccination Spokesperson from the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi to CNNIndonesia.com, Saturday (5/6).
Nadia explained that there were actually no special concerns regarding the use of the Covid-19 vaccine for children. However, the safety of the vaccine against certain groups must be ensured.
“Only because phase 3 clinical trials and vaccine safety studies have not been completed in children,” he said.
A similar explanation was also conveyed by the Head of ITAGI Sri Rezeki Hadinegoro. He said ITAGI is still waiting for scientific publications that prove the safety of the Covid-19 vaccine for children.
“Everything must be scientifically proven for safety, antibody formation and benefits. Also logistics must be prepared,” he told CNNIndonesia.com.
Quotes MIT Technology ReviewHowever, several vaccine brands in the world have actually conducted trials of the Covid-19 vaccine on children. Among them are Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which have been conducting clinical trials on children since the beginning of this year.
However, children have not been prioritized to get the Covid-19 vaccine because it is assessed that the proportion of positive confirmed cases is far less than adults. Even if exposed, children generally have mild symptoms such as cough, fever, runny nose and sore throat.
A number of studies show children have immune systems that are able to neutralize the virus more quickly. It is also suspected that children have fewer ACE2 receptors in the cells lining the nasal passages. The receptor is the entry point for Covid-19 to the host cell to infect the body.
Even so, there are still serious complications that can be experienced by children when exposed to Covid-19, namely multisystem inflammatory syndrome or MIS-C that attacks children. It’s just that this case is rare.
Meanwhile, China has approved the emergency use of Sinovac Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine in children or adolescents in the 3-17 year age group.
As reported Reuters, preliminary results from Phase I and II clinical trials show the Sinovac vaccine can trigger an immune response in test participants aged three to 17 years and most reactions are mild.
(fey / fra)
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