Government Plans to Add 1,600 Doses of Mpox Vaccine

Jakarta, VIVA – The Indonesian government is procuring an additional 1,600 Monkeypox (Mpox) vaccine doses, according to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

The minister highlighted that out of the 1,000 vaccine doses previously purchased, only 40 remain.

"We're awaiting the arrival of 1,600 more vaccine doses, expected this week," Minister Sadikin stated in Jakarta on Tuesday, as quoted from Antara site.

Moreover, he stated that each dose of the Mpox vaccine requires a relatively high cost of approximately IDR 3.5 million.

Although no significant obstacles were encountered in procuring Mpox vaccines from Denmark, Minister Sadikin acknowledged that vaccine availability is limited due to high demand from various countries and WHO guidelines that restrict vaccination to high-risk groups.

"This vaccine is not intended for the general public, as Mpox transmission occurs in 95 percent of cases through sexual contact, similar to HIV," he explained.

While urging the public to be cautious about Mpox transmission, he advised against excessive fear. Approximately 88 cases have been detected in Indonesia since 2022, with all recorded cases having recovered.

"Since this disease is not widespread, vaccines are not available in large quantities," the minister said.

He added, "However, with good behavior and adherence to health guidelines, the public does not need to worry too much,"

He explained that Mpox cases in Indonesia are of the 2B variant, which has a much lower fatality rate compared to the 1B variant found in Africa.

The fatality rate of the 1B variant is relatively high, at around 10 percent, while the 2B variant's rate is only 0.1 percent.

"The 1B variant has not spread beyond Sweden and Thailand, with most cases remaining in Africa, as the variant originated there," he concluded.