JAKARTA: Indonesia has reported its first case of a new, more transmissible variant of the coronavirus known to reduce protection against vaccines, but the government said on Tuesday that vaccines used in the country could withstand the mutation.
The new variant contains the E484K mutation found in variants first identified in South Africa and Brazil.
Some scientists have nicknamed it “Eek” for its apparent ability to evade the natural immunity of previous COVID-19 infection and reduce the protection offered by current vaccines.
Siti Nadia Tarmizi, a senior health ministry official, said on Tuesday that the case of a single variant had recovered and did not infect close contacts, adding that the vaccines currently available in Indonesia could withstand the mutation.
However, Herawati Sudoyo, the government-funded deputy director of fundamental research at the Eijkman Institute, which specializes in molecular biology and medical biotechnology, said the ability of vaccines to withstand mutation had not yet been determined.
The first case of the variant comes when the country is preparing for a reduced supply of COVID-19 vaccines due to the export sidewalks of the AstraZeneca shot imposed by the Indian manufacturer to prioritize domestic supplies.
Indonesia’s Health Minister said Monday that only 20 million of the 30 million doses he had ordered for a March-April delivery were available due to export sidewalks.
He called for readjustment and prioritization of the immunization program for the elderly.
To date, with approximately 1.54 million cases and 41,900 deaths, Indonesia has the highest number of cases in Southeast Asia and one of the worst epidemics in Asia.
Its vaccination program aims to inoculate 181 million people and is largely dependent on a vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac due to delays in sending the AstraZeneca vaccine. (Report by Stanley Widianto; Edited by Miyoung Kim and Martin Petty)
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