VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. Chinese vaccine makers Sinopharm and Sinovac have presented data on their COVID-19 vaccines indicating levels of efficacy that would be compatible with those required by the World Health Organization, the chair of a WHO advisory panel said on Wednesday.

The WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) hopes to issue recommendations on those vaccines by the end of April, its chair Alejandro Cravioto, told a Geneva news briefing.

“The information that the companies shared publicly at the (SAGE) meeting last week clearly indicates that they have levels of efficacy that would be compatible with the requirements that WHO has asked for this vaccine,” Cravioto said, referring to the group of independent experts’ closed-door meeting.

“That means about 50% (efficacy) and preferably close to or above 70% and of course, they have all the safety data to show that this vaccine would cause no harm in humans when used.”

The vaccines would first require emergency use listing from the WHO or from what the agency considers to be a stringent regulatory authority before SAGE experts can make recommendations about their use, he added.

WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said earlier this month that Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines could receive WHO emergency listing “quite soon”.

No detailed efficacy data of Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine has been publicly released but its developer, Beijing Biological Products Institute, a unit of Sinopharm subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG), said the vaccine was 79.34% effective in preventing people from developing the disease based on interim data. It has been approved in several countries including China, Pakistan and the UAE.

Sinovac’s vaccine showed varied efficacy readings of between 50.65% and 83.5% based on trials from Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia.

The two China-made vaccines have seen strong demand from many developing countries which have limited access to shots made by rival Western drugmakers. (Reuters)

Jakarta. COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc with BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc reduced risk of infection by 80% two weeks or more after the first of two shots, according to data from a real-world U.S. study released on Monday.

The risk of infection fell 90% by two weeks after the second shot, the study of nearly 4,000 U.S. healthcare personnel and first responders found.

The results validate earlier studies that had indicated the vaccines begin to work soon after a first dose, and confirm that they also prevent asymptomatic infections.

Some countries dealing with limited vaccine supplies have pushed back schedules for second doses with the hope of getting some protection to more people. U.S. public health officials, however, continue to recommend two doses be given on the schedule authorized by regulators based on clinical trials.

The study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) evaluated the vaccines’ ability to protect against infection, including infections that did not cause symptoms. Previous clinical trials by the companies evaluated their vaccine’s efficacy in preventing illness from COVID-19, but those studies would have missed asymptomatic infections.

The findings from of the real-world use of these messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines also confirm the efficacy demonstrated in the large controlled clinical trials conducted before they received emergency use authorizations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The study looked at the effectiveness of the mRNA vaccines among 3,950 participants in six states over a 13-week period from Dec. 14, 2020 to March 13, 2021. About 74% had at least one shot, and tests were conducted weekly to catch any infections without symptoms.

“The authorized mRNA COVID-19 vaccines provided early, substantial real-world protection against infection for our nation’s healthcare personnel, first responders, and other frontline essential workers,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement.

The new mRNA technology is a synthetic form of a natural chemical messenger being used to instruct cells to make proteins that mirror part of the novel coronavirus. That teaches the immune system to recognize and attack the actual virus.

The CDC study comes weeks after real-world data from Israel suggested that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was 94% effective in preventing asymptomatic infections.

Britain and Canada were among the countries that have allowed extended gaps between doses of up to three or four months. UK authorities said in January that data supported its decision for a 12-week gap between doses.

Pfizer and its German partner have warned that they had no evidence to prove that. In their pivotal trials, there was a three-week gap between Pfizer shots and four weeks for the Moderna vaccine.

The CDC said the study results on Monday provide reassurance that people start to develop protection from the vaccine two weeks after their first dose, although the agency reiterated that the greatest protection was seen among those who had received both recommended doses of the vaccines. (Reuters)

Jakarta. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday ruled out a general lockdown while acknowledging the country was going through a third wave of the pandemic.

Pakistan reported 4,757 new infections and 78 deaths on March 30, with two thirds of ventilators and around 80% of beds with oxygen facilities in major cities occupied.

“We have to adopt a balanced policy where the spread of the virus can be prevented and where the poor man and the country’s economy are least affected,” Khan told a national coordinating committee meeting.

Pakistan has opted for what officials call “smart lockdowns” -- short-term restrictions imposed often at neighbourhood level -- to try to tame the disease while keeping the economy afloat.

While federal and provincial governments have announced restrictions on gatherings, public transportation, and mask mandates, the measures have largely not been enforced.

Khan said he would direct the government to reinforce the mask mandates.

Some 800,000 doses of vaccine have been administered in Pakistan so far, all of them Sinopharm donated by Beijing, Health Minister Faisal Sultan said.

Sultan said half of another million doses bought from Sinopharm had arrived on Wednesday and the other half would arrive on Thursday.

Pakistan is scrambling to get more vaccine as it awaits WHO/COVAX/GAVI allocations of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which have been delayed.

The country is planning to acquire enough of a concentrated form of the Chinese CanSino Biologics vaccine next month to locally produce 3 million doses.

“We are speeding up this process and want to take it to the next stage,” Sultan said.

Pakistan has allowed the private sector to import and sell vaccine, but a legal dispute between an importer and the government over the price has delayed that mechanism. (Reuters)

Jakarta. Indonesian police shot dead a woman who had opened fire at officers at the national police headquarters in Jakarta on Wednesday in an attack inspired by the Islamic State, the police chief said.

The 25-year-old woman, identifed only by her initials ZA, had fired six times at officers near an entrance post to the headquarters before being taken down, Listyo Sigit Prabowo said.

She was a college drop-out who lived in Jakarta and she had posted a photo of the Islamic State, or ISIS, flag on her Instagram account hours before the shooting, Sigit said.

“From the profiling of the person in question, that person was a suspect or a lone wolf with the ideology of radical ISIS,” Sigit told a news conference, adding that she had left a note for her parents bidding farewell.

Footage shown by local television stations showed a person in a blue veil and long black clothing entering the grounds of the police complex as gunshots could be heard. She was later seen falling to the ground amid more gunshots.

The incident came three days after a husband and wife carried out a suicide bombing at a cathedral on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Palm Sunday, wounding 20 and killing only themselves.

At least 13 people have been arrested by police in Jakarta, Sulawesi and West Nusa Tenggara provinces following the Sulawesi attack.

Terrorism analyst Al Chaidar said Wednesday’s attempted attack was likely intended as revenge for a sweep of police arrests of suspected religious extremists in recent days. (Reuters)