Coronavirus: Indonesia, Thailand mull booster shots amid concerns over efficacy of Sinovac vaccine

Health officials said the plan was aimed at increasing immunity after several medical workers who had been fully vaccinated with the shot became infected

Experts say the move could reduce public trust in the Chinese product

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A woman receives a dose of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 7:18pm, 8 Jul 2021Updated: 7:26pm, 8 Jul 2021

Indonesia and Thailand are considering offering a booster shot to their medical workers immunised with Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine, a move likely to reduce public trust in the Chinese product that has been their main inoculation tool.

Some countries including Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have already started giving a booster shot to those inoculated with Chinese vaccines amid concerns that they may not be as effective against new and more transmissible coronavirus variants.

But the challenges facing Southeast Asia are much bigger. Many countries in the region rely heavily on Chinese vaccines due to tight supplies of Western jabs, and have low vaccination rates of less than 10 per cent.

They are also battling a record-breaking surge in new cases and deaths, led by the highly contagious Delta variant, while rising infections among medical workers despite being fully immunised with the Sinovac shots have stretched already thin health care systems.

“There’s a lot of doctors and medical workers who have been vaccinated twice but endured medium and severe symptoms, or even died,” Slamet Budiarto, deputy chief of the Indonesian Medical Association, told parliament on Monday.