TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian mentioned three possible scenarios for containing the COVID-19 pandemic. The first one is the vaccine availability.

Tito said many countries were racing to develop the COVID-19 vaccine, including Indonesia which has now been involved in phase III clinical trials of the antibody candidate from China-based Sinovac Biotech.

The second scenario is the occurrence of herd immunity, in which two-thirds of Indonesia’s population would need to get the new coronavirus to prevent the disease in the future as they have gained natural immunity.

The second scenario, Tito added, would claim a large number of victims as during the Spanish Flu pandemic back in 1918 which killed more than 50 million lives. “We do not want that herd immunity scenario,” said Tito in a webinar held by Taruna Merah Putih on Sunday, August 9.

If the COVID-19 vaccine is not discovered, Tito went on, the last scenario would only be hope. “We believe that the virus comes from God, and God can solve it,” he remarked.

According to Tito Karnavian, the combination of several mentioned scenarios occurred in the mitigation of the Spanish Flu pandemic. They were herd immunity that claimed millions of lives and the virus was weakened.

“Until today, we still have influenza which is considered as a common disease,” he said.

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DEWI NURITA