TB Vaccine Trial Plan in Indonesia Requires 2,000 Volunteers to Become Guinea Pigs
Author: Jacob Ereste
Freelance Journalist
2,000 volunteers are needed to become “guinea pigs” as announced by the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) to take part in the tuberculosis (TB) vaccine trial initiated and planned to be developed by Bill Gates in Indonesia. The trial participants needed by the Gare Foundation are TB survivors who are willing to take part in the trial process voluntarily, free of charge.
According to the Head of BPOM, Prof. Dr. Taruna Ikrar, this clinical trial will be carried out while upholding the principles of medical ethics. Such as there should be no coercion, it must be voluntary and free of charge, he said as revealed to reporters in Jakarta, Thursday, May 15, 2025.
Community involvement in combating TB considering that Indonesia currently ranks second as the country with the largest number of TB sufferers in the world. Therefore, as a form of responsibility, how to resolve or treat the brothers and sisters who suffer from tuberculosis.
Gate Foundation is said to have committed to making Indonesia a location for a TB vaccine trial. And this plan, said the head of BPOM, has received support from President Prabowo Subianto. Even so, the plan to trial the TB vaccine in Indonesia has raised concerns among some people who consider Indonesia to have the potential to be used as a guinea pig.
Of course, the Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin ensured that the TB vaccine had gone through various stages of clinical trials before being used on humans. In short, the Minister of Health assured that the public need not worry because the safety of the vaccine has gone through a strict evaluation process, he said, as if providing a guarantee that it is safe and comfortable and will not endanger the health of the public to become guinea pigs.
Therefore, the support of all parties and the participation of volunteers participating in the TB vaccine trial can be a big step in fighting TB in Indonesia more effectively and scientifically. From the information and data obtained by the Atlantica Nusantara Institute, on the island of Java, the most TB sufferers, 234,710 people are in West Java. Next in East Java Province as many as 116,752 people. In Central Java as many as 107,685 people and in DKI Jakarta as many as 20,583 people, mainly in South Jakarta which recorded as many as 8,691 cases.
From the latest data in 2025, the number of TB sufferers in Indonesia until March 2025 was 1,016,475 Kadus. In 2024 as many as 855,420 Kadus. While in the first three months of 2025, 161,055 cases were recorded. This means that the opportunity to conduct a TB vaccine trial is quite potential in Indonesia. Because the number of volunteers needed is only 2,000 people.
The problem is, residents as TB survivors want to or are used as guinea pigs. Given the impact of the Covid-19 Vaccine is still a trauma for residents who feel they have experienced many changes that they never imagined and did not want. Such as decreased memory after being vaccinated against Covid-19. The problem is, the largest TB sufferers in the world are in India, as many as 26 percent of the total TB sufferers worldwide. While Indonesia only has 10 percent of the total number of TB sufferers worldwide. Then inviting Bill Gate is actually interested in doing it in Indonesia. Because according to the World Health Organization (WHO), of the 10.6 million TB sufferers in the world, Indonesia is much safer than India.
Banten, May 26, 2025
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