Will Sinovac be the Saviour?

All countries around the world had tried their best to halt and eradicate the COVID-19 outbreak. China claimed they had found the vaccine, and Indonesia is waiting for the great results.

Having undergone hard times for nearly five months, all people around the globe, including Indonesia, will experience good fortune. Recently, on Monday this week (July 20th, 2020), the Chinese government sent the COVID-19 vaccine to assist Indonesia in fighting the virus. It was great news amid the uncertainty in all aspects of life caused by the Coronavirus that hit the entire globe since the end of 2019.

According to the Chinese government, the vaccine — named Sinovac — has passed two clinical trials. Phase one clinical trial to determine the impact of side effects on humans, while the second phase of clinical trials focused on finding out the success rate. Both clinical trials took considerable time and research and were successful. It required ten months to find the vaccine.

Thus, it might be the first record in the world history of antitoxin. Everything conducted well in China. No significant barriers found during the process of finding the booster shot. Typically, vaccines or new drugs like that can only hit the market in five years at the fastest. That’s in the western world. But, it was relatively more relaxed and smoother in China.

Yet, the serum still needs numerous volunteers to test as part of the third clinical trial sequence. That’s why its reach cannot be only in a single country. It has to be in many countries. By doing trials in different countries, the world will know the effectiveness of these drugs. Because of this, the trial costs are expensive. Especially in Western countries.

Why is it expensive? The government or related companies must pay them. Besides that, volunteers must also sign legal and official documents to avoid family demands if something unexpected happens during the vaccine trial period.

So, what to do in Indonesia? For this vaccine trial to take place successfully in Indonesia, it takes thousands of people who are willing to volunteer. The more volunteers, the better the evaluation results will be. The volunteers must be from different genes, blood, gender, race, and different ages.

We should be grateful as China chose Indonesia as one of the countries to operate the third phase of the trial. Given the trust, Indonesia will have the rights to produce the vaccine massively and independently.

If everything runs well, we will have the booster shot available in November. How is it possible? Suppose that the trial will take two months (starting from August to October), and the result is excellent, then, the world bodies will issue the permit to generate the vaccine in November. That’s precisely one year of Jokowi’s second term presidency.

President Joko Widodo said Indonesia would join in phase three clinical trials involving 1,620 volunteers. “We will be carrying out phase three clinical trials involving 1,620 volunteers. All protocols and processes will be controlled and led by BPOM (Drug and Food Control Agency),” said the president as quoted from his Twitter account.

Bio Farma, a state-run pharmaceutical company, will produce 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine if phase three trials work well.

Let’s pray so that any efforts we do to eradicate the virus will be fruitful and meaningful. Stay healthy, folks!

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You may read the Indonesian version here. You can also read other articles here and here.

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