Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The virus was first discovered in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. The virus spread and caused a global pandemic within five months, with 242,348,657 confirmed cases and 4,927,723 deaths worldwide. This virus causes an acute respiratory syndrome that threatens global health.
Until now, a potential drug has not been found against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore preventive measures is one of the options to control COVID-19. Antiviral drugs results are also still controversial. Vaccination is considered the right step to end a possible pandemic. There are currently three vaccine candidates: an inactivated vaccine, an adenovirus vector vaccine and a DNA vaccine. Inactivated vaccines are used to prevent emerging infectious diseases and have a high speed of vaccine development. Another advantage of using inactivated vaccines is that the protein components are still complete and their immunogenicity does not change. This immunogenicity will later induce the body to produce protective antibodies consisting of humoral and cellular immune responses. Another advantage of inactivated vaccines is that they are effective and safe. Inactivated vaccines are produced by inactivating the virus by heat (physics), the addition of formalin or -propiolactone (chemistry), and gamma rays exposure (radiation). Other additives are adjuvants to increase immunogenicity and prolong the vaccine’s protective period.
One of the inactivated vaccines that the public has been waiting for is the Merah Putih (Red and White) Vaccine developed by Universitas Airlangga. The Red and White vaccine was developed by researchers from Universitas Airlangga and will be the first vaccine to be developed and produced domestically. The vaccine from Merah Putih has reached the pilot-scale stage, which will be used for the preparation of clinical trials 1, 2, to 3 and will be used on a limited basis. The Merah Putih vaccine is an inactivated vaccine that has been tested on animals and produces good safety and immunogenicity. The immune response resulting from this inactivated vaccine was measured using the ELISA test, resulting in a protective antibody value.
Author: Diena Delaiah
