Indonesian Medical Staff Vaccinated with Chinese Sinovac... "Confirmed Positive"

Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Seoyoung] Controversy has spread after hundreds of healthcare workers in Indonesia were found to have been infected with the virus even after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac.

On the 18th (local time), an official from the Indonesian authorities reported that more than 350 doctors and other healthcare workers in Kudus District, Central Java Province, Indonesia, were infected with COVID-19 after completing vaccination with the Sinovac vaccine. Badai Ismoyo, head of the Kudus Health Department, stated, "Most of the infected medical staff are asymptomatic and are self-isolating," adding, "Among them, dozens have been hospitalized due to high fever and decreased blood oxygen saturation."

In Indonesia, the majority of vaccinations have been carried out using the Chinese Sinovac vaccine. Since last month, AstraZeneca (AZ) and another Chinese vaccine, Sinopharm, have been introduced, but healthcare workers were prioritized as vaccination recipients and mostly received the Sinovac vaccine. However, as mass infections have continued among healthcare workers who have already been vaccinated, doubts about the efficacy of the Sinovac vaccine are also growing.

According to the COVID information platform 'Lapor COVID19,' across Indonesia, at least five doctors and one nurse who had been vaccinated were infected with the virus and died. Additionally, in the capital Jakarta, about six vaccinated doctors were hospitalized for a month due to infection, with one of them reported to be in the intensive care unit.

The Sinovac vaccine received emergency use approval from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 1st of this month. However, some healthcare workers have expressed concerns about how effective Sinovac is against the Delta variant. The Delta variant, first identified in India, has been found to be much more contagious than the original COVID-19 virus.

Meanwhile, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 20th, a research team from the University of Hong Kong, commissioned by the Hong Kong government, surveyed 1,000 COVID-19 vaccine recipients and found that Pfizer vaccine recipients had higher antibody levels than those who received the Sinovac vaccine. The researchers stated, "The higher the antibody levels, the longer it takes for antibodies to decrease and disappear," adding, "This also means that the duration of protection provided by the vaccine is longer."