TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia received nearly one million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine from the Italian government on Saturday, said director general of information and public communication at the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, Usman Kansong.

"We have received the first COVID-19 vaccine stock arrival in 2022 today, on January 1, 2022. The vaccines that arrived are 999,180 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, as a form of support from the Italian government," he informed in a statement issued on Saturday.

The vaccines were obtained under the COVAX scheme, he said. With the arrival of the latest batch, the total number of vaccine doses that Indonesia has received, both in the form of finished products and raw materials, so far has reached around 470 million, Kansong said.

The vaccine arrivals in Indonesia have reflected the government's commitment to securing COVID-19 vaccine availability in the country, he added.

He also called for active participation from the community in the vaccination program.

"Vaccination and health protocols are health protection measures that cannot be abandoned at this time, including in anticipation of the Omicron variant whose cases continue to grow," Kansong said.

"The Ministry of Health has conveyed that this (Omicron) variant is more transmissible yet has a lower risk of causing severe symptoms. However, we need to remain alert because the COVID-19 situation is still very dynamic and changing quickly," he explained.

He then appealed to the community to perform activities outside wisely and avoid traveling abroad.

The Indonesian government launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021, in a bid to boost immunity against COVID-19.

According to data provided by the Health Ministry, as of January 1, 2021, nearly 161,901,957 citizens have received their first COVID-19 jab, while 114,041,953 have been fully vaccinated against the virus.

Read: U.S. Sends 7mn Additional Doses of Pfizer Vaccine to Indonesia

ANTARA