Indonesia approves third Covid-19 vaccine dose
Jakarta, Jul 13 (EFE).- Indonesia, which registered a record 40,000 new Covid-19 infections said Tuesday they will begin to administer a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine against healthcare workers.
Speaking to Metro TV channel, Health Ministry Siti Nadia Tarmizi spokesperson said doctors would begin to inoculate a booster dose of Moderna this week or the next to those who have already received both shots of Sinovac or AstraZeneca.
To receive the third dose, health workers must receive the second vaccine between five and six months prior.
The vaccine from Moderna, a drug company in the United States, uses cutting-edge messenger RNA (mRNA) technology and has been shown to be highly effective against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
The drug from the British Swede AstraZeneca / Oxford uses an adenovirus to recreate a coronavirus protein, while the Chinese Sinovac uses the more traditional technique based on the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The third dose for health workers has also been approved this week by Thai authorities.
Indonesia, which has accumulated 2.56 million infections and 67,355 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, has registered the death by Covid-19 of at least 10 doctors who were vaccinated with the full Sinovac dose and four with one shot.
The large number of infections is overwhelming the health system, with an alarming shortage of oxygen supply for critically ill patients, so authorities try to buy or receive donations of oxygen and assisted breathing equipment from other countries, such as Australia or Singapore.
Authorities imposed from Jul. 3 a partial confinement and a toughening of measures that will last until Jul. 20 and that imposes a temporary closure in schools, religious venues, parks, museums, sports stadiums, shopping centers, bars and restaurants.
So far, 36.3 million Indonesians have been vaccinated with one dose, representing 13 percent of the total population, while some 15 million have received the full dose, equivalent to 5.5 percent of their 270 millions of inhabitants. EFE
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