DTP-Hep B vaccine launched in 2003

JAKARTA (JP): Aiming to provide affordable vaccination packages nationwide, public company Biofarma will launch a combined vaccination for diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) and hepatitis B in 2003.

"The combined vaccine is currently in the clinical trial phase. It's more efficient and cheaper compared to separate DPT and hepatitis B vaccinations," Biofarma president Thamrin Poeloengan said on the sidelines of an international seminar on vaccinations last week.

Thamrin said the new vaccine would reduce vaccination costs to under US$1 per injection, making it affordable for the general public.

Separate DPT and hepatitis B vaccines cost $1 and 90 cents respectively and require six injection sessions, while the combined vaccines can be administered in three sessions, performed every four weeks with the first injection given to two- month-old babies.

In Indonesia, with an average of five million babies born annually, the combined vaccination program would cost a total of $15 million annually.

The new combined vaccine, formulated using whole cell Bordetella pertussis bacteria as protection against pertussis, is said to have a similar potency and side effects to the DTP vaccine formulated with the acellular Bordetella pertussis, extracted from the whole cell.

"But the acellular vaccine is seven times more expensive than using whole cells," Thamrin said, referring to the expensive acellular extraction process.

Separately, chairperson of the Indonesian Society of Pediatrician (IDAI Jaya)'s Jakarta division, Sri Rezeki Hadinegoro, identified that the future trend is moving toward the use of acellular vaccines to moderate the side effects of the whole cell method, which include fever, localized pain and swelling following the injection.

She pointed out that the whole cell DPT vaccine has been used for decades in Indonesia and ensured that the new combined vaccination is completely safe and effective.

While pointing out that the national DPT vaccination program has covered 90 percent of the targeted recipients, Hadinegoro expressed hope that the combined vaccines can help boost hepatitis B programs, which so far remain unsuccessful due to failures administering the third injection, given five months after the second one. (lup)