Health Minister Address the Issue of Vaccines for the Elderly

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Health Minister Budi Gunawan Sadikin explained on Tuesday, December 29, 2020, that the government is trying to have the Covid-19 vaccine ready for elderly people. Currently, the available candidate-vaccine developed by Sinovac had only been tested on volunteers aged ranging from 18 to 59 years of age.

Budi explained that he has contacted the food and drug monitoring agency (BPOM) concerning this matter.

"The clinical trials on the Sinovac vaccines conducted in Bandung are tested on the 18 to 59 age group," said the newly appointed health minister on December 29, 2020. "But that is for the one developed in Bandung, in other places such as Turkey and Brazil, the candidate vaccines are given to people in the age group above 60 years of age."

In other parts of the world, vaccines such as Pfizer that has obtained an emergency use authorization by the MHRA, FDA, and EMA, is permitted to be administered to people over 60 years old.

The state minister assures that the candidate vaccine must go through BPOM's scientific monitoring before it gets injected into people over 60. "We want to assure that everything is done scientifically in terms of vaccinations for the elderly group until the BPOM feels comfortable," said Minister Budi. 

ANTARA