JAKARTA – Grappling with a surging coronavirus wave, Indonesia took another step to boost vaccinations today, granting emergency use approval for another vaccine – Russia’s Sputnik V.
This is the seventh Covid-19 vaccine cleared for use in Indonesia, which has so far fully vaccinated just over 32.6 million people – a little under 16% of the vaccination target of 208.26 million, Anadolu Agency reported.
The overall number of vaccine doses administered in the country currently stands at 91.1 million, according to the latest figures.
Indonesia’s Food and Drug Supervisory Agency said the vaccine can be given to people aged 18 years and above in two doses within a three-week period.
“Data from the third phase of clinical trials shows that the Sputnik V vaccine provides 91.6% efficacy,” the agency’s head Penny Lukito said during a meeting with parliamentarians.
He said the vaccine caused mild to moderate side effects during trials, including flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, joint pain, muscle pain, weakness, discomfort, headache, and hyperthermia.
Indonesia’s virus caseload has now crossed four million, doubling within a span of just two months due to the rapid spread of the highly infectious Delta variant.
A total of 19,106 infections were recorded over the past day, raising the cumulative count to 4,008,166, the Health Ministry said in a daily report.
The daily death toll was an alarming 1,038 in the past 24 hours, pushing the fatality count to 128,252, it added.
However, earlier this week, President Joko Widodo announced that restrictions in the Greater Jakarta region and in areas on the island of Java will be revised down from Level 4 to Level 3.
The reason for the decision, he said, is that the number of daily infections has declined by 78% from the peak of around 55,000 seen in mid-July. – Bernama, August 25, 2021
