People with Full Sinovac Doses Could Get Pfizer Boosters, Minister Says

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia will kick off the booster rollout tomorrow, 12 January. Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that the booster jabs could be homologous, meaning the booster given would be the same brand as the primary doses, as well as heterologous a.k.a. using a different brand from the primary jabs.

Budi said there are at least three combinations of booster vaccines that will be given starting tomorrow.

"The first is for people who had Sinovac as their primary—first and second doses. We will give them half a dose of Pfizer as the booster," Budi said in a press conference, Tuesday, January 11. 

The second scenario is that people who completed their primary series with Sinovac would be given half a dose of AstraZeneca.

The third is for recipients of AstraZeneca primaries, who would be given half a dose of Moderna.

The minister said that these are "early combinations" of the booster vaccine regiments that will be provided, "based on the availability of vaccines and also research results that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (BPOM) and the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI)."

He added that the combinations will "develop or increase" based on more studies and researches completed, as well as depending on what vaccine brands are available in Indonesia.

Last week, Minister Budi said the government was interested in the recommendations given by the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Both are recommending half a dose of Moderna as a booster.

Read: Nearly 1 Million Pfizer Doses Arrived in Indonesia from Italy

Dewi Nurita