The Jakarta Health Office has estimated it will need to vaccinate around 900 thousand children aged 6-11 following the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) approval for vaccinations for the age group.
“We, together with the Education Office and the Population and Civil Registry Office, will juxtapose the target data to ascertain the number of children who need to be vaccinated,” head of disease prevention and control (Jakarta), Dwi Oktavia, said here on Wednesday.
In addition to comparing the data, she said her team is also awaiting technical instructions from the Ministry of Health.
The technical instructions concern the implementation of health checks before vaccinations such as whether the same mechanisms need to be carried out as followed for adults, pregnant women, and elderly citizens, she explained.
“We are waiting for the regulation of the Health Ministry on when the (vaccinations) can be given, as well as the location, whether they will be school-based,” Oktavia informed.
Furthermore, the Jakarta provincial government is also looking forward to adding vaccine stocks that will be given to children aged 6-11 years, she said.
Considering that children from the age range have started to attend school, she said she expected vaccinations to be provided in the school environment, as was the case for children aged 12-17 years.
Earlier, the BPOM authorized the use of the Sinovac vaccine for children aged 6 to 11 years, based on the assessments regarding safety and immunity against COVID-19.
“The results of this pediatric clinical trial are more on aspects of safety and immunogenicity. The security aspect shows this (Sinovac) is safe for children aged 6 to 11 years,” BPOM head Penny Lukito said here on Monday.
She said that the authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine for children is an important thing to do considering that schools are starting to implement face-to-face learning on a limited basis.
According to the BPOM report, the side-effects of the vaccination in the 6-11 age group were similar to those reported in the 11-17 age group, which was about 11 percent to 17 percent of the total clinical trial subjects.
The authorization for the use of the Sinovac vaccine for children aged 11 to 17 years was given earlier.
The BPOM report showed that immunogenicity, or the vaccine’s ability to trigger the body’s immune response, was greater in children than in adults: the effectiveness was 96.15 percent in children compared to 89.04 percent in adults.
Lukito explained that the Sinovac vaccine is the first vaccine approved by BPOM for children aged 6-11 years.
She said she hopes there will be other COVID-19 vaccines that can be registered immediately and approved for children aged 6-11 years.
Source: Antara News