VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. The Indonesian Government has no plan to extend disbursal of cash transfer fund (BST) that has been a crucial instrument to revive the economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic after its expires in April 2021, Social Affairs Ministry stated.

"We have no budget for that," Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini stated at the 19th anniversary of the Disaster Preparedness Team (Tagana) in Pangandaran, West Java, on Wednesday.

Moreover, Rismaharini remarked that since the country had enforced micro-scale social restrictions, people could slowly return to their normal activities that would further aid in reviving the economy.

"People in need of help can apply to us, and we will deliver the aid as non-cash food aid (BPNT)," Rismaharini noted, adding that the BPNT package was worth Rp200 thousand.

An advisor of the Social Affairs Minister for Social Accessibility Sonny W. Manalu earlier noted that the ministry had only prepared cash transfer fund until April 2021.

Since early 2021, the ministry has disbursed Rp12 trillion per month to 10 million beneficiary families, with each expected to receive Rp300 thousand through the state-run postal service company PT Pos Indonesia. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it continues to monitor safety evidence reviews of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine but that the shot’s benefit-risk profile “weighs heavily in favour of its use” amid reports of rare brain blood clots.

Alejandro Cravioto, chair of the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization, told a briefing the panel was “comfortable” with the vaccine’s use, since many of the countries using it have safety warning signal systems in place and are not reporting problems.

Many European countries briefly stopped using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine earlier this month while their drug safety authorities investigated rare cases of blood clots. (Reuters)

Jakarta. European Union states are expected to receive 107 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of March, an EU Commission spokeswoman said on Wednesday, hitting an earlier target but far below initial plans.

Under contracts signed with drugmakers, the bloc had expected to receive 120 million doses by the end of March from Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca alone and tens of millions more doses from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

But after major cuts from AstraZeneca, the EU had revised down its target until the end of March to about 100 million doses.

The Commission spokeswoman told a news conference that AstraZeneca was expected to deliver 29.8 million doses by Wednesday, in line with its revised-down goal.

Pfizer-BioNTech will deliver 67.5 million doses and Moderna nearly 10 million, figures that the EU has said are in line with their initial commitments.

The EU expects a major ramp-up of deliveries in the second quarter that it says will be sufficient to inoculate at least 70% of its adult population by July, and speed up its so far slow vaccination drive. (Reuters)

Jakarta. Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE said on Wednesday their COVID-19 vaccine was safe and effective and produced robust antibody responses in 12- to 15-year olds, paving the way for them to seek U.S. emergency use authorization in weeks.

Pfizer hopes that vaccinations of the group could begin before the next school year, Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

Pfizer’s vaccine is already authorized for use in people starting at age 16. The new study offers the first evidence of how the vaccine will also work in school-age adolescents.

In the trial of 2,260 adolescents aged 12 to 15, there were 18 cases of COVID-19 in the group that got a placebo shot and none in the group that got the vaccine, resulting in 100% efficacy in preventing COVID-19, the companies said in a statement.

The vaccine was well tolerated, with side effects in line with those seen among those aged 16 to 25 in the adult trial. It did not list the side effects for the younger group, but the adult trial’s side effects generally were mild to moderate and included injection-site pain, headaches, fever and fatigue.

The companies also studied a subset of teens to measure the level of virus-neutralizing antibodies a month after the second dose and found it was comparable to study participants aged 16 to 25 in the pivotal trial in adults.

Bourla said the company planned to seek emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “in the coming weeks and to other regulators around the world, with the hope of starting to vaccinate this age group before the start of the next school year.”

Last week, the companies gave the first vaccine doses in a series of trials testing the vaccine in younger children, that will eventually go to those as young as 6 months of age. (Reuters)