TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Health Ministry’s Covid-19 vaccination spokesperson, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said on Friday that the CTMAV 547 batch of AstraZeneca vaccines are permitted for use following its temporary halt.

The decision, she said, was taken after the Food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM) conducted a thorough sterility test and abnormal toxicity tests. They concluded that the vaccines are safe for use in the country’s mass-vaccination program.

“This test shows how careful the government provides Covid-19 vaccines. And with this result, the use of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines from batch CTMAV 547 can be continued,” Nadia said citing her statement at the Health Ministry’s website on March 28.

The Indonesian government on May 16 temporarily halted the use of the British-Swedish vaccine for a thorough investigation and further tests following reports on post-immunization accidents (KIPI) that allegedly caused deaths. Lately, the investigation found that the deaths were mainly related to comorbidity and not by the vaccine.

“The AstraZeneca vaccine is one of the world’s most used vaccines which surely has passed the quality and safety requirement,” the spokesperson said. “The public should not fear it, no need to pick a new type of vaccine as all the vaccines available now are the best [in the market].”

Read: Health Ministry 'Guarantees' Safety of AstraZeneca Vaccines

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