The Food and Drug Administration (BPOM) has temporarily suspended the use and distribution of a batch of AstraZeneca vaccine with the code CTMAV547.
This temporary suspension is the result of the death of a Jakarta resident some time ago.
Furthermore, the Health Ministry and Food and Drug Administration will conduct toxicity and sterility testing as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of the vaccine.
“Not all of the AstraZeneca vaccine batches are being discontinued for distribution and use, however. Only batch CTMAV547 is temporarily suspended pending the results of the investigation and testing from the BPOM which may take one to two weeks,” said the spokesperson for the COVID-19 vaccination from the Health Ministry, Siti Nadia Tarmidzi.
Batch CTMAV547 currently totals up to 448,480 doses and is part of the 3,852,000 doses of AstraZeneca that Indonesia received on 26th April 2021 through the Covax, or WHO scheme.
Nadia added that some of the batch had been distributed to the National Armed Forces and the rest to DKI Jakarta and North Sulawesi.
“The Health Ministry urges the public to be calm and not be consumed by hoaxes circulating. People are expected to always access information from reliable sources,” said Nadia.
The use of the AstraZeneca vaccine will continue because the COVID-19 vaccination poses less risk than if people were to catch the virus.
Based on data from the post-immunization follow-up, there has never been an incident of a person dying as a result of COVID-19 vaccination in Indonesia. In several previous cases, the death of people whose had been vaccinated against COVID-19 was due to other causes, not the result of the vaccinations they received.