VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Drug and Food Supervisory Board (BPOM) will supervise the circulation and use of COVID-19 vaccines in the community to ensure their safety and efficacy.

“The supervision will not stop when (the vaccine) secures a seal of circulation permit or approval from the BPOM and is used. In fact, when the vaccine is used there are a lot of things that should draw attention to ensure its efficacy, security, and quality,” director of drug registration at BPOM, Rizka Andalucia, said during a virtual seminar on COVID-19 vaccination here on Wednesday.

The BPOM will also provide an electronic reporting system where pharmaceutical firms and paramedics can report the side-effects of the vaccines, he informed.

The public is also expected to take an active part in monitoring and reporting any side-effects of the vaccines so we can further evaluate them, he said.

Before licensing any COVID-19 vaccine, the BPOM will consult the national committee for drug assessment, which comprises pharmacologists, public health experts, and internists, he informed.

The permit that BPOM will issue for the vaccines may come in the form of a circulation permit or an emergency-use authorization, he said.

Applications for emergency-use authorization would remain subject to a series of evaluations, though several stages may be scrapped without compromising the principles of efficacy, security, and quality, he said.

"The emergency is not about the approval, but about the condition in which we are now — in the state of emergency for COVID-19," he explained.

After securing a circulation permit, vaccines can be produced en masse and distributed to the public, he said. (Antaranews)