By Stanley Widianto and Tabita Diela
JAKARTA (Reuters) – While Indonesia is preparing to launch mass vaccinations against COVID-19, other countries will closely monitor its plan to prioritize working-age adults over the elderly, with the aim of rapidly achieving herd immunity and the to revive the economy.
Several countries such as the United States and Britain that have already started vaccinations give preference to the elderly who are more vulnerable to the respiratory disease.
The following is the opinion of experts on the merits and risks of the Indonesian approach, among which adults of working age will be vaccinated to health workers and government officials in the foreground.
WHY 18-59 YEARS FIRST?
Indonesia, which plans to launch mass vaccinations with a vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech in China, says it does not yet have enough data on the efficacy of the vaccine in the elderly, as people between the ages of 18 and 59 are involved in clinical trials in the country.
“We are not dealing with the trend,” said Siti Nadia Tarmizi, a senior health services official, adding that authorities will await recommendations from the country’s drug regulators to decide on vaccination plans for the elderly.
While Britain and the United States are starting vaccinations with a shot developed by Pfizer Inc. and its partner BioNTech, which has been shown to work well in people of all ages, Indonesia initially only had access to the Sinovac vaccine.
The country in Southeast Asia has an agreement to receive 125.5 million doses of CoronaVac shot from Sinovac, and a first batch of 3 million doses is already in the country.
Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine to the country are expected to start from the third quarter, while a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford will start distributing in the second quarter.
“I think no one can become too dogmatic about what the right approach is,” said Peter Collignon, professor of infectious diseases at the Australian National University, adding that Indonesia’s strategy could slow the spread of the disease, although it does not. the death may not affect. tariffs.
“Indonesia is doing it differently than the US and Europe are of value because it will tell us (or) you will see a more dramatic effect in Indonesia than Europe or the US because of the strategy they are doing but I do not know think someone knows the answer. ‘
Professor Dale Fisher of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore said he understood the rationale of Indonesia’s approach.
“Younger working adults are generally more active, more social and travel more, so this strategy will reduce the transmission of communities faster than vaccinating older people.
“Obviously, older people are at greater risk of having serious illnesses and deaths, so they have an alternative reason to vaccinate them. I see the merits in both strategies.”
WILL IT help to achieve herd immunity quickly?
By first vaccinating more socially mobile and economically active groups, Indonesian government officials hope the government can quickly achieve herd immunity.
Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the country needs to vaccinate 181.5 million people, or about 67% of its population, to achieve herd immunity, and that it needs nearly 427 million doses of vaccines, with the acceptance of a double dose regimen and a 15% wastage rate.
Some experts are skeptical about achieving herd immunity, as more research needs to be done to determine whether vaccinated people can transmit the virus.
“There may be a risk that people may still spread the disease among others,” said Hasbullah Thabrany, head of the Indonesian Health Economic Association.
WILL IT HELP ECONOMIC RECOVERY?
Economists have argued that a successful vaccination program for about 100 million people will help the economy, as it is more likely to resume economic activities such as spending and production.
Faisal Rachman, an economist at Bank Mandiri, said the 18-59 age group has consumption needs that are higher than other groups.
“They could accelerate economic recovery because household consumption contributes more than 50% to Indonesia’s economy,” he said, warning that the growing COVID-19 cases in the country could also reduce the risk of lowering people’s confidence. .
The pandemic drove Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, into its first recession in more than two decades last year, with the government estimating a contraction of up to 2.2%.
(This story corrects name of Rahman to Rachman in paragraph 19)
(Additional reporting by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Raju Gopalakrishnan)