JAKARTA: The late-stage trial of a tuberculosis (TB) vaccine backed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and involving over 2,000 Indonesians is safe and will bring benefits to the country, health officials said in the wake of conspiracy theories surrounding the vaccine.
Controversy, including reported rumours and misinformation surrounding the M72/AS01E vaccine candidate, arose after Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s remarks following his meeting with American philanthropist and Gates in Indonesia on May 7.
Prabowo said Gates was “developing a TB vaccine for the world” and that Indonesia would be “one of the places to test” the vaccine.
The president also praised Gates’ contributions to the country, noting that his foundation had provided more than US$159 million in grants since 2009, mostly for health programmes.
However, in the wake of Prabowo’s comments, netizens expressed doubts about Indonesia being the “testing ground” for the vaccine candidate. They questioned Gates’ intention and why it was only being tested in “poor countries”.
Indonesia is the only country outside Africa to take part in the trial.
VACCINE CANDIDATE IS SAFE: INDONESIAN AUTHORITIES
Participating in the trial means Indonesians will be among the first to receive the TB vaccine, said Taruna Ikrar, head of the country’s Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM), on Wednesday (May 14), as reported by news agency Antara.
Vaccination is one of the most effective strategies to reduce TB prevalence in the country, he said. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the estimated incidence of TB in Indonesia was 387 per 100,000 population in 2023.
Indonesia sees over 1 million TB cases a year and was estimated to have the world’s second-highest number of TB cases in 2023, after India.
It accounted for 10 per cent of an estimated 10.8 million cases globally in 2023, according to the WHO’s Global TB Report 2024. Indonesia recorded about 125,000 deaths from TB in 2023, according to Taruna.
TB is an airborne infectious disease caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and primarily affects the lungs. It can cause lung damage or death if untreated.
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