TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A total of 358,700 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in Indonesia from France on Friday as a form of support for Indonesia’s COVID-19 mitigation efforts.

Citing Antaranews, the French Embassy in Jakarta noted that the first shipment was part of the total of three million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to be donated to Indonesia under the COVAX mechanism.

"France stands with Indonesia in continuing its fight against COVID-19," the French Embassy noted in a statement.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron had reminded that developed countries must effectively and proactively partake in efforts to contain the pandemic. In February, the President called on his partners from the G7, G20, and the European Union to share some of the vaccine doses received with the 92 low- and middle-income countries that are part of the COVAX AMC.

A year ago, the COVAX facility was established with the support of France to ensure equitable access to coronavirus vaccines with 137 countries worldwide having received over 156 million doses to date.

Previously, Indonesia received 500 thousand doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Australian government under a bilateral vaccine-sharing mechanism as part of the 51st batch of vaccine shipments.The Netherlands, Japan, and British government have also contributed to Indonesia's current vaccine supply.

Read: Indonesia Receives 500,000 Astrazeneca Vaccine Doses from Australia

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