Too Early to Claim Efficacy of 'Nusantara Vaccine', Says BPOM

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Head of the Food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM) Penny K. Lukito on Friday said that his office is still evaluating the report on Nusantara Vaccine’s phase I clinical trial, which was initiated by the former health minister Terawan. 

Lukito asserted that it was still too early to claim the candidate vaccine’s efficacy. “There’s still Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III. So it is still too early for anyone to claim the efficacy and safety [of nusantara vaccine],” she said to Tempo on February 19.

Reported earlier, former health minister Terawan announced that he and his team was developing a bespoke vaccine to fight the SARS-CoV2 virus, dubbed 'Nusantara Vaccine'. He claims that the development is a joint effort by researchers at the Kariadi Semarang General Hospital laboratory, Diponegoro University, and the Aivita Biomedical Corporation from the United States. 

He claimed the vaccince has a longer period of immunity compared to other antivirus variants due to its use of base dendritic cells.

One member of the research team, Yetty Movieta Nency, said to Antara news on Friday that the first clinical trials had gone smoothly without significant side effects that was done on 27 volunteers. 

The insignificant number of volunteers in the test did not stop Terawan to further claim that the Nusantara Vaccine is a “personalized” vaccine that is effective for every age range, and boldly said that it is also effective on people with comorbids. 

Read: BPOM Comments on Candidate Vaccine by Former Health Minister Terawan

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