Govt Prepares Mass-vaccination as 70 Million Additional Doses Arrive
Translator
Editor
3 August 2021 07:31 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin in a virtual press conference on Monday said Indonesia will be receiving 70 million Covid-19 vaccines throughout August to September that will be used to vaccinate more people in broader regions in Indonesia that are still lacking behind in vaccination rate.
The Minister said 70 million doses in two months means it will exceed the previous 90 million vaccine doses from January to July, which only fulfills 20 percent of the national goal.
“So if there are regions still behind in the number of vaccinations it is because only 20 percent of the vaccines have arrived. The rest or 80 percent is in August up to December,” said the Health Minister.
Indonesia has secured 258 million vaccine doses with additional 70 million that are still uncertain, adding to the total number of 331 million doses.
He said the islands of Java and Bali currently remain as the main vaccination regions based on risk assessments that show the two islands logging the most number of cases and deaths due to Covid-19, especially the Greater Jakarta Area, Bandung, Semarang, Solo, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Malang, and Bali.
“Those regions have logged steep active cases and deaths. We conduct the vaccinations based on each region’s risk assessment and the goal to reduce transmissions and deaths,” said the Health Minister.
The 7 agglomeration regions in Java and Bali only managed to conduct 381 thousand vaccine doses per day but the additional arrival of Covid-19 vaccines means the daily target can be increased to 1.2 million.
Read: KONI Completes First Phase of Vaccination of Papua PON Athletes
EGI ADYATAMA