COVID-19 Vaccines, Immunity, and SARS-CoV-2 Variants

On Wednesday, March 10th, 2021, the Biomedicine Department of i3L successfully held a public webinar titled “COVID-19 Vaccines, Immunity, and SARS-CoV-2 Variants”. In collaboration with BioFarma, the webinar also featured the head of their Surveillance and Clinical Trials division, Dr. Novilia Sjafri Bachtiar, dr., M.Kes. in addition to Biomedicine faculty members Marsia Gustiananda, S.Si., Ph.D. and Bobby Sulistyo, M.Sc. As the title suggests, this webinar delved deep into the science behind vaccines in general, the immunological effect that vaccines have on the human body, the different kinds of currently available COVID-19 vaccines, as well as their clinical trials in Indonesia. Furthermore, the diversity of SARS-CoV-2 virus variants and their potential effect against vaccination efforts were also discussed.

Around 300 participants attended the webinar, which mostly consisted of students, teachers, and healthcare workers who were coming from all over Indonesia. The participants found that the webinar’s topic was relevant to the most current COVID-19 issues and the discussions insightful. The Q & A section was met with lively discussions on related topics. One of the most revisited topics is the effectiveness of currently available vaccines against new variants of SARS-CoV-2, to which the speakers emphasized the importance of vaccines in actually diminishing the virus’s potential to experience further mutations. The discussion further addressed some of the commonly heard concerns about COVID-19 vaccines, which was very insightful as it also reminded us to be critical of various circulating rumors about the vaccines. Finally, there were also questions about our immune system in relation to the currently available vaccines, which provided further understanding about the importance of vaccination programs.