Indonesia Receives Third Batch of Covid-19 Vaccines From AstraZeneca

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia has received more vaccines from the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company, as the country took delivery of 1,389,600 ready to use vaccines at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Saturday.

“The delivery of the vaccines, which amounts up to 1,444,900 following a previous delivery of 55,300 doses last Thursday, is the third of its kind Indonesia received from the Covax Facility,” said Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi at a press conference in Jakarta.

The latest shipment of vaccines from the British pharmaceutical company has increased the number of AstraZeneca vaccines up to 6.5 million doses.

Also read: Sinopharm Covid-19 Vaccines Arrives in Indonesia

“To date, Indonesia has secured 75,910,500 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from the GAVI Covax Facility and other sources. Of this number, 68,500,000 are from Sinovac, 6,410,500 are from AstraZeneca, and another 1 million doses from Sinopharm,” she added.

Retno reminded the public to comply with health protocols, due to the increase of confirmed Covid-19 cases around the world.

“A World Health Organization [WHO] report dated on May 2, 2021 noted that the number of global Covid-19 cases over the past week amounted to over 5,7 million cases, more than the first six months of the pandemic,” she warned.

Also read: 3.8 Million AstraZeneca Vaccines to Arrive in Indonesia on April 26

“The number of Covid-19 cases around the world has reached over 157 million cases, with 3.2 million deaths, since the coronavirus was detected last year. Southeast Asia experienced the largest surge, with a 19 percent increase in cases over the past week from May 2,” Retno asserted.

“The Southeast Asian region, which by WHO standards includes countries like India, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Maldives, East Timor, Myanmar, dan Bhutan, currently made up 47 percent of global cases within this time period."

Retno also affirmed Indonesia’s stance to phase out patents for the Covid-19 vaccine, so as to increase the number of doses for global production and guarantee countries around the world equal access to the vaccine.

(Writers: Ardito Ramadhan, Achmad Nasrudin Yahya | Editor : Diamanty Meiliana)

Sources:  

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/05/08/09163701/vaksin-covid-19-tahap-ke-11-tiba-total-759-juta-dosis-sudah-diterima. 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/05/08/09485281/kasus-covid-19-di-dunia-melonjak-menlu-minta-masyarakat-waspada. 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/05/08/09432361/indonesia-dukung-penghapusan-hak-paten-vaksin-covid-19.