TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine booster is scheduled to commence in early December 2021. The clinical trial team leader Eddy Fadlyana said he had received permission from the ethics committee. “We are still waiting for permission from the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM),” he said on Tuesday, November 9.

Data collection on volunteers for the clinical trial of the vaccine booster, which is expected to strengthen existing antibodies after previous vaccinations, has already started in two cities. Eddy said the research needs 500 volunteers.

“900 people in Jakarta and 600 people in Bandung,” said Eddy who is also a pediatrician at the dr. Hasan Sadikin Hospital Bandung. He added that there will be 100 people on the trial team.

Volunteer data collection is carried out in health facilities. The clinical trial is aimed at analyzing the necessity of a vaccine booster for those who have been injected with the vaccine twice.

The research team will try out three types of vaccines, namely Sinovac, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer. The vaccine recipients will be divided into two groups; one group will receive a full-dose vaccine of 0.5 milliliters and the other one will get a half dose of 0.25 milliliters. “If it turns out that half the dose is just as good, then the government can save on vaccines,” Eddy remarked.

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ANWAR SISWADI (CONTRIBUTOR)