We have a good percentage because the serosurvey shows that the (levels of) antibodies in Indonesian people were quite high
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Minister of Health Dante Saksono Harbuwono confirmed that the ministry still had a budget of Rp1.3 trillion allocated to purchase domestically manufactured COVID-19 vaccines in 2022.

"We still have a budget amounting to Rp1.3 trillion to buy domestically produced COVID-19 vaccines in 2022," Harbuwono stated at a press conference for the kick-off of the Phase III of the State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Vaccine Clinical Trial in Jakarta, Thursday.

The deputy health minister conveyed that COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Indonesia was quite high, reaching more than 400 million injections.

"However, we do not know when the pandemic will be over," he stated.

Harbuwono noted that the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia was under control, as was apparent from the epidemiological measurements of low case indicators, such as mortality, transmission, bed occupancy ratio (BOR), and vaccination.

The slowing down of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia was also supported by the results of a serosurvey to measure the antibody levels in Indonesian people to the risk of SAR-CoV-2 transmission that caused COVID-19, which is currently high, or at around 99.2 percent,“ he pointed out.

"We have a good percentage because the serosurvey shows that the (levels of) antibodies in Indonesian people were quite high," Harbuwono explained.

Despite a significant decrease in the number of cases during the pandemic, the government is still studying the antibody levels in the public.

"The decrease in the level of antibodies in the community will be accompanied by the provision of a booster vaccine (third dose of vaccination). One alternative booster is a vaccine produced by SOEs," he noted.

Harbuwono remarked that the Ministry of Health will re-evaluate the needs of the Indonesian people for the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Furthermore, we will evaluate the result. After distributing the vaccine to the domestic market, SOEs will export the vaccine to other countries in need of it," he concluded.

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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Resinta S
Editor: Sri Haryati
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