Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine, CoronaVac, keeps facing doubts and hoaxes amid its clinical trial. (Image via Kompas)

BPOM: Sinovac is trustworthy!

Indonesia's National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) denied the misinformation accusing that the Chinese-flagged vaccine for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), CoronaVac, from Sinovac has the lowest efficacy rate and Indonesia was the only country "gullible" enough to buy it.

BPOM asserted that until now, there has been no result regarding the efficacy of Sinovac's CoronaVac, neither from Sinovac nor from the food and drug agency of other countries as the vaccine is still undergoing its third clinical phase.

Speaking through an official press release on Monday, the Spokesperson of COVID-19 Vaccination Program from BPOM, Lucia Rizka Andalusia, said that currently, there is no official document nor information from the World Health Organization (WHO) that compared immunity response of 10 vaccine candidates or a warning that CoronaVac has the lowest efficacy rate as broadcast. Lucia stated that it was confirmed by the WHO's envoy in Indonesia.

Lucia also asserted that the information stating that Indonesia was the only country ordering the Sinovac's vaccine was not accurate either. She explained that besides Indonesia, there are numerous countries that have ordered Sinovac's vaccine such as Brazil, Turkey, Chile, Singapore, and the Philippines. Lucia noted that even Egypt is negotiating to produce Sinovac's CoronaVac domestically.

When being asked about the emergency use authorization (EUA) for Sinovac, Lucia asserted that BPOM is monitoring its security, effectiveness, and quality of the CoronaVac and EUA requires adequate data. Moreover, after EUA has been given, the monitoring continues to see the long-term side effects and effectiveness.

She added that BPOM remains committed to working around the clock in evaluating until the whole COVID-19 vaccination program runs smoothly as planned. However, Lucia also asked the Indonesian people to maintain COVID-19 health protocols such as washing hands, wearing masks, and social-distancing (3M).

THE MISINFORMATION

Previously on 24 November 2020, the Qatar-based mainstream media, Al Jazeera, released a piece of information in form of a table of comparison consisting of 10 vaccine brands: AstraZeneca-Oxford (the U.K-Sweden), CanSino (China), Gamaleya Research Institute (Russia), INOVIO (the U.S), Johnson & Johnson (the U.S), Moderna (the U.S), Pfizer-BioNTech (the U.S - Germany), Sinopharm (China), and Sinovac (China).

According to the table, Al Jazeera showed that the vaccine with the most efficacy was Pfizer-BioNTech with 95 percent. Moderna-NIAID also followed with the efficacy of around 94 percent. However, at the lowest, Sinovac has the worst efficacy rate. Yet, the table did not show the percentage.

Moreover, recently, Sinovac has been panning criticisms from its customer countries, especially from Brazil, the Philippines, and Cambodia. In Indonesia, Sinovac is working together with the state-owned pharma, Bio Farma, and public university, Padjajaran University, for the clinical trial which is expected to finish by May 2021 with its initial report submitted no later than January 2021.

Source: https://bit.ly/3rdyXDb