COVID-19 – Indonesia issues emergency use for Chinese Zifivax vaccine

Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – The Indonesian National Agency of Drug and Food Control issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Zifivax vaccine from China on Thursday (Oct. 7).

Zifivax was developed and produced by Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical, and developed in Indonesia in collaboration with PT JBIO with a recombinant protein sub unit platform, the agency’s head Penny K Lukito said at a press conference here on Thursday (Oct. 7).

“The efficacy of this vaccine reaches 81.71 percent, starting seven days after ones get complete vaccinations,” she said, adding that the efficacy could reach 81.4 percent 14 days after receiving three doses.

Penny said the efficacy for those aged 18-59 years was 81.5 percent, and for the elderlies (over 60 years) was 87.6 percent.

“This vaccine is given three times intramuscularly (IM) with an interval of one month from the first injection to the next one, with 25 mcg (0.5 mL) for each shot,” she noted.

Zifivax requires special conditions for storage at a temperature of 2-8 degrees Celsius.

“I think this is a suitable range temperature for a tropical country like Indonesia,” said Penny.

She emphasized that EUA approval was issued after Zifivax went through a series of pre-clinical and clinical trials to assess its safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy.

The EUA was also published by the agency along with the National Committee for the Special Assessment of the Corona Virus Disease 2019 Vaccine and Indonesia Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI) after carrying out assessments of the safety, efficacy, and quality of the vaccine.

Reporting by Indonesia Window