Vaccination Need to be Accelerated to Revive Jakarta's Economy: Deputy Governor

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta provincial government pledges to accelerate the implementation of COVID-19 vaccination program in its endeavors to restore public trust and revive the capital city’s economy.

“By doing so, we hope Jakartans will get more freedom in doing their social and economic activities in a healthy and comfortable manner,” Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria said.

The vaccination, carried out successfully, could help protect the communities from the risks of COVID-19 infection, he told participants of a webinar on COVID-19 and senior citizens on Saturday.

To this end, the vaccination program in Jakarta needs to get accelerated, and given precisely to targeted members of community, he said.

The Jakarta provincial government has been administering its residents with the COVID-19 vaccine since January 14, 2021 or one day after the government kicked off its national vaccination program at the Presidential Palace on January 13, 2021.

Indonesia remains in grip of the global pandemic of COVID-19 that has severely hit its economy but the government is striving to win the fight against it through a national vaccination program.

According to the Health Ministry, it will take about 15 months to vaccinate about 181.5 million people under the national 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 vaccination program, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, stated recently.

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

Tarmizi noted that the first phase of the government's immunization program has been divided into two periods: January-April, 2021 and April, 2021-March, 2022.

This coronavirus pandemic has severely hit the country’s economy. In reviving the tourism sector, for instance, the Indonesian government has planned a travel bubble.

In the first stage of its implementation of the vaccination, the travel bubble between Indonesia and Singapore will initially run between Singapore and Bintan, Riau Islands.

Read: Australia to Continue AstraZeneca Vaccination Despite Blood Clotting Case

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