The government officially implemented a third dose vaccination program, or booster vaccination, for Indonesians.
There are five types of vaccines used as boosters, namely:
- CoronaVac/Sinovac
- Pfizer
- AstraZeneca
- Moderna
- Zifivax
Vaccine category
Before choosing a booster vaccine, it is important to pay attention to the categorization of the vaccine type as homologous, heterologous, or both.
Head of the Health Handling Division of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Alexander Ginting explained the mechanism for selecting booster vaccines.
Homologous vaccines
Homologous itself means the type of primary vaccine or the initial complete dose of vaccine is the same as the type of booster vaccine.
“The homologs are vaccine one and vaccine two. For example, Sinovac, Sinovac, and the booster being Sinovac,” said Ginting.
The types of vaccines that are homologous are Sinovac, Moderna, and Pzifer.
Heterologous vaccine
Meanwhile, for the heterologous category, vaccine one and vaccine two are the same, but the booster can be of different types of vaccine.
“The heterologous are for example Sinovac, Sinovac, and their booster is Moderna,” he continued.
Ginting went on to say that for those over 18 years old, it’s ok to use a heterologous booster. In addition, this booster vaccination is intended for ages 18 years and over and at least six months after getting the complete primary dose of the vaccine.
The amount of dose received will be adjusted to the recommendations that have been given by the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM).
Sinovac vaccine recipient booster
The spokesperson for COVID-19 vaccination, Dr. Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that those who have received the complete Sinovac vaccine can use half the booster dose of AstraZeneca or half the dose of Pfizer.
“Use AstraZeneca or Pfizer depending on the availability of existing vaccines,” said Nadia.
AstraZeneca vaccine recipient booster
Those who have received the complete AstraZeneca vaccine can use a half dose of Moderna booster.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin revealed that the initial combination of booster vaccines could later develop depending on the results of new research that comes in as well as the availability of existing vaccines.
Guidelines for giving boosters according to National Agency of Drug and Food Control recommendations
Reporting from the official BPOM website, the mechanism for giving booster vaccines is explained as follows:
Sinovac
- A booster vaccine is given as at least one dose after six months of a complete vaccination.
- Given at the age of 18 years and over
- The results should be an increase in neutralizing antibody titer up to 21-35 times after 28 days of booster in adult subjects.
Pfizer
- A booster vaccine is given at least one dose after six months of complete vaccination.
- Given at the age of 18 years and over
- The increase in the value of neutralizing antibody titer after one month of booster/advanced doses compared to 28 days after primary vaccination is expected to be 3.29 times higher.
AstraZeneca
- A booster vaccine is given at least one dose after six months of complete vaccination.
- Given at the age of 18 years and over.
- An increase in IgG antibody titer value from 1792 to 3746 is expected.
Moderna
- A booster vaccine is given at least one dose after six months of complete vaccination.
- Given at the age of 18 years and over.
- The immune response of neutralizing antibodies should increase by 12.99 times after administration of a homologous booster dose of the Moderna vaccine.
Zifivax
- A booster vaccine is given at least one dose after six months of complete vaccination of either Sinovac or Sinopharm.
- Given for ages 18 and over.
- The neutralizing antibody titer should increase more than 30 times in subjects who had received the primary dose of Sinovac or Sinopharm.
The results of the evaluation of the safety aspects of the five booster vaccines showed that the frequency, type, and severity of adverse events reported after booster administration were generally mild and moderate.