The whole world must pay attention to Indonesia’s COVID vaccination strategy – BGR

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  • More than 42.2 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered worldwide as of this writing, per Bloomberg vaccine tracker.
  • Most countries have started their immunization programs with vaccinations for the elderly, but at least one large country is taking a different approach.
  • Indonesia will give people of working age a vaccination against the coronavirus before joining its older population.

Here is an interesting thought experiment. If you were in charge of the US coronavirus vaccination strategy, what would your priorities be? Would you decide that the vaccine should be given as quickly as possible to the most vulnerable – for example, the elderly, who we now know are most at risk of dying from COVID-19? Or would you race to vaccinate people as quickly as possible? infecting these old people? Which means, would it be better to launch your COVID vaccination strategy by inoculating the people who get sick most often and who most often transmit the virus to other people?

You can kind of follow the logic behind that second choice, right? Even if it sounds risky, de-prioritizing the elderly most likely to die during the coronavirus pandemic. However, it is much easier to get the vaccine distributed as quickly as possible to younger people – those younger people can go to the vaccination site, for example, rather than the health professionals who need to go to the clinics. elderly, nursing homes and like. In addition, it is often younger people who contract COVID and then hug each other or pass the virus on to grandma and grandfather. This option removes that (probably, but more on that in a moment). In addition, this option also helps the working-age population return to work faster and the economy a little faster than normal. And while the US, UK and Europe have decided to take a similar path – starting their respective immunization efforts targeting vulnerable populations like the elderly – Indonesia is on the move. point of embarking on a closely monitored experiment, launching its own vaccination effort starting with health workers, public officials (to build the confidence of the general public), then the general population aged 18 to 59. In other words, vaccinate the youngest before the elderly.

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Now, to be clear, Indonesia is not doing this to deliberately rebel against the standard vaccine strategy of most western countries. He does this because he must. “We are not going against the trend,” said Siti Nadia Tarmizi, head of the Indonesian Ministry of Health. Reuters, adding that the country’s pharmaceutical regulators still need more data before deciding how to immunize the elderly.

This is because the country only has access to the Chinese Sinovac Biotech coronavirus vaccine at the moment. Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that the US and UK rely on, with its high efficacy found in people of all ages, Indonesia defended its decision saying it does not yet have sufficient data on the effect of Sinovac vaccine on the elderly. people.

The deployment of the vaccine in Indonesia here will be closely monitored, for two reasons. One is what we’ve already discussed – what kind of a difference it will make on infection rates, starting with people who are most infected, rather than people who are infected. the worst? However, the other thing is that we also don’t know to what extent vaccinated people can still transmit the coronavirus after vaccination.

In other words, think of getting the vaccine like wearing gloves. You’re now wearing a layer of protection on your hands, but those gloves can still get dirty and leave a mess on things you touch – affecting other people, if you’re not careful.

“I don’t think anyone can get too dogmatic about the right approach,” said Peter Collignon, professor of infectious diseases at Australian National University, in an interview on the vaccination strategy in Indonesia.

Andy is a reporter in Memphis who also contributes to media outlets like Fast Company and The Guardian. When he’s not writing about tech, he can be found protectively leaning over his burgeoning vinyl collection, as well as nurturing his Whovianism and gorging himself on a variety of TV shows you probably don’t like. .



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