Previously, the Ministry of Health advised people who had previously been vaccinated with two doses of Sinovac to use certain other types of vaccines as the third stage of the vaccine.
The Director-General of Disease Prevention and Control at the Ministry of Health, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, explained that during clinical trials the results of the Sinovac booster vaccine on recipients of the previous two doses of Sinovac vaccine were very low.
“My last circular letter dated February 26 has not yet been received, only Sinovac, Sinovac, Sinopharm. Because clinical trials are very low for Sinovac, Sinovac, and Sinovac (booster). Not included in the booster regimen,” explained Maxi in the RDP with Commission IX of the DPR RI, Wednesday (30/3/2022).
The results of the Ministry of Health’s clinical trial are actually in line with the results of research in Brazil. The study, conducted in Brazil and the University of Oxford, found that the Sinovac vaccine received a better booster than vector platform vaccines (AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson) or mRNA platform vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) against Covid-19 including the Omicron variant and Delta.
“This study provides an important choice for policymakers in many countries where vaccines using inactivated viruses (Sinovac and Sinopharm) have been used,” said study leader Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group. /2022).
From this study, it was found that the third dose of Sinovac also increased antibodies, but better results were obtained when users of the Sinovac vaccine used a different brand of booster vaccine, according to a recent study involving 1,240 volunteers from the Brazilian cities of Sao Paulo and Salvador.
Indonesia itself is known to use Pfizer vaccines, Moderna vaccines, and AstraZeneca as booster vaccines for Sinovac vaccine recipients. The size is half the dose of what is usually given.
In more detail, four types of booster vaccines can be given to Sinovac vaccine recipients, namely, the half dose of AstraZeneca (0.25 ml), the half dose of Pfizer (0.15 ml), the full dose of Moderna (0.5 ml), and a full dose of Sinopharm ( 0.5 ml).