Indonesia examines use of Sinovac, Pfizer vax for kids

JAKARTA: Indonesia is currently examining the use of the Sinovac and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines for people under 18 years of age after detecting many cases of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus among children and youths.

"We are currently reviewing which vaccines already have an EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) for young people. What we have observed is that there are two on our list; Sinovac for those aged three to 17 years old and Pfizer for those aged 12-17 years old," Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said at a virtual press conference on Friday. China has approved the emergency use of its Sinovac vaccine for children as young as three-year-old, while the US has green-lighted the Pfizer jab for those as young as 12, reports Xinhua news agency.

Sadikin said the Health ministry has been conducting a study on vaccinating children, which will be released soon, and at the same time it has also continued to observe the developments and data related to effectiveness and side effects of vaccines administered to children in a number of countries.

"We can issue a comprehensive decision based on the data we have, policy data in other countries and health scientific data on the EUA that have been given to vaccine companies," said Sadikin.

Under its plan, the Southeast Asian country is currently working to inoculate the targeted 181.5 million people aged over 18, about 70 per cent of its total population, by March 2022. According to the World Health Organization, Indonesia has so far administered 36,581,555 of the COVID-19 vaccines doses. (IANS)

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