Covid-19 Killed 26 Indonesian Doctors in June---at Least 10 Had Taken China's Sinovac Vaccine

SINGAPORE—At least 10 of the 26 doctors in Indonesia who died from Covid-19 this month had received both doses of the vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd., a medical association said, raising questions about the Chinese-made shot that is being used in many parts of the developing world.

The Indonesian Medical Association’s Covid-19 mitigation group is still working to verify the vaccination status of the 16 others, said Dr. Adib Khumaidi, who leads the group. According to the group’s latest figures, over a five-month period, at least 20 doctors who were fully inoculated with Sinovac’s vaccine died from Covid-19, accounting for more than a fifth of total fatalities among doctors during that time span.

The toll could rise further in the coming weeks as the country battles a surge in infections and hospitals across the archipelago fill up.

Epidemiologists say the deaths need to be properly investigated to determine whether factors such as poor hospital care or chronic underlying illnesses played a major role. They also say more data is needed, including on how many vaccinated doctors overall were infected with Covid-19, which Indonesia’s health ministry says it isn’t tracking.

Around 90% of Indonesian doctors—roughly 160,000 in all—have been vaccinated with Sinovac’s shot, according to the medical association, so the vaccinated doctors who died are only a tiny percentage of the total.