The Faculty of Medicine (FK) Universitas Hasanuddin (Unhas) held a webinar with the title “Top Scientist Webinar Series 19” themed “Covid-19 Variants and Vaccine Efficacy”. The webinar was conducted online through the Zoom meeting application starting from 5.00 to 17.00 Central Indonesia Time on Saturday (11/12).
The resource persons presented were J.L (Jan) Nouwen, M.D., M.Sc., Ph.D., Assoc. Prof. Internist-Infectious Disease (Erasmus MCU Rotterdam, The Netherland) and Dr. dr. Vivi Setiawaty, M. Biomed (National Institute for Health Research and Development, Indonesia).
Commencing the activity, Prof. Dr. Budu, M.Med.Ed., SpM(K)., Ph.D., the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Unhas, expressed his gratitude to the speakers in his remarks. The themes verbalized on Covid-19 and vaccines are essential to be concerned together, especially in the new normal era.
Additionally, Prof. Budu added stated that the views captured by the speakers were expected to become a reference in handling the vaccination programs in Indonesia, South Sulawesi in particular. He hopes that the participants can gain new insights and knowledge from the webinar.
The event was officially opened by the Vice-Rector for Research, Innovation and Partnerships, Prof. dr. Moh. Nasrum Massi, Sp.MK, Ph.D. In his remarks, he said that Unhas consistently supported activities encouraging numerous steps to reach the World Class University, i.e. through the internationalization process by involving many potential partners over the world.
“I believe the topics discussed will be fascinating, especially regarding the development of Covid-19, which currently still becomes the global problem. Hopefully, the information obtained will help us succeed and complete the vaccination program, particularly in South Sulawesi,” Prof. Nasrum explained.
After the opening, the event continued with the material presented by the speakers. Nouwen delivered the initial presentation regarding “Covid-19: Vaccine Efficacy and Variants”. In general, he explained several essential points concerning Omicron as a new variant of Covid-19, which was first discovered in South Africa. This variant has spread to several countries such as India, the United States, England, and the Netherlands.
Furthermore, he said Omicron is a variant of SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus that generates Covid-19. WHO said this variant needs to be put into severe caution. Henceforth, vaccination is present to become an available option. The vaccine’s effectiveness will decrease after six months after injection, the body’s antibodies will drop by 15-20%. For this reason, a vaccine booster is needed to optimize vaccine administration at the 7th or 8th month after being vaccinated.
After all the speakers presented their material, it was followed by a discussion and question and answer session. Many of the participants asked questions about the material presented on this occasion. The activity attended by rough 100 participants lasted well until 17.00 WITA.
Marningsih Sadik, S.S. and Kumara Tungga Dewa, S.S.
Editor: Ishaq Rahman, AMIPR
