TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's COVID-19 Task Force Head Doni Monardo has yet to be administered a COVID-19 vaccine jab until he tests positive for the novel coronavirus disease, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s (BNPB’s) expert staff stated.

"He (Mr. Doni Monardo) has not yet been administered the COVID-19 vaccine," Egy Massadiah, concurrently the special staff for Monardo in his capacity as the BNPB chief, told ANTARA in Jakarta on Saturday.

Monardo was not scheduled for inoculation on the days he visited disaster zones in the provinces of West Sulawesi and South Kalimantan, he remarked.

The task force head might have contracted the infection amid his hectic activities to lead the country's COVID-19 and disaster mitigation efforts in various areas.

On January 22, 2021, Monardo had recently returned after observing the impacts of the 6.2-magnitude earthquake that hit the districts of Majene and Mamuju in West Sulawesi Province on January 15.

Along with his staff members that had accompanied him during his visits to observe the impacts of the West Sulawesi earthquake and the massive flooding in South Kalimantan, Monardo underwent swab testing.

The swab test results confirmed that he and one of his staff members had got infected. Hence, Monardo is conducting self-isolation while continuously monitoring the COVID-19 and disaster mitigation efforts in various areas, he remarked.

Massadiah noted that Monardo had indeed consistently practiced the 3M health protocols of wearing face mask, maintaining physical distancing, and washing hands as well as had got rid of crowds to not contract the infection.

In the midst of a spike in the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country, the Indonesian government had commenced its national vaccination program on January 13, 2021.

President Joko Widodo, Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander, Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, and several public figures, including television personality Raffi Ahmad, received the country's first COVID-19 jabs on the day.

According to the Indonesian Health Ministry, from January 14 to January 22, 2021, at 1 p.m. Western Indonesia Time (WIB), more than 132,000 medical workers in 34 provinces had received the COVID-19 jabs.

The Health Ministry disclosed earlier that it would take 15 months to vaccinate some 181.5 million people under the national COVID-19 vaccination program.

"We need 15 months to accomplish it. The time frame for conducting the vaccination is counted from January 2021 to March 2022," Health Ministry's spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination Program, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, remarked.

During the period, the government is targeting to inoculate some 181.5 million people, including 1.3 million paramedics and 17.4 million public sector workers, in 34 provinces, Tarmizi stated.

Tarmizi noted that the first phase of the government's immunization program will be further divided into two stages: January-April 2021 and April 2021-March 2022.

Also Read: Task Force Chief Tests Positive for Covid-19 after Visiting Sulawesi, Kalimantan

ANTARA