Indonesia Allocates 9.3 Million Covid Vaccines for Second Booster Shots

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Indonesian Health Ministry allocated 9.3 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines for the second booster shots.

"About 7.2 million doses are stored in the capital, 2.1 million doses have been distributed to the regional governments,” the ministry's head of the communication and public service bureau, Siti Nadia Tarmizi said in Jakarta on Monday, Jan. 23.

Siti Nadia said that the types of vaccines available included 138,185 doses of the Janssen vaccine, 3,344,772 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, 8,404 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, and 189,684 of the Zifivax vaccine.

The rest are home-grown Merah Putih vaccines, including 1,171,755 doses of the InaVac vaccine and 4,528,570 doses of the IndoVac vaccine.

The number of vaccines stored in the facilities of the central government reaches 7,216,315 doses, while the remaining vaccines of 2,039,020 doses were from grants.

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"The total supply in the area is 2,165,055 doses, consisting of 523,030 doses of purchased vaccines and 1,642,025 doses of grants," she said.

Earlier, the ministry's spokesperson, Mohammad Syahril, said the general public could get the second booster Covid-19 vaccination.

"This aims to accelerate the vaccination program while increasing the protection of the Indonesian people from Covid-19," he said.

He noted that the second booster dose of Covid-19 vaccination are available to all members of the public aged 18 years and above, starting from Jan. 24, without waiting for tickets or invitations.

Also read: Over 65 Million Indonesians Received First Covid Booster Shots

"The data recording is still manually done while waiting for P-care and PeduliLindungi," Syahril said.

This refers to Circular Letter No. HK.02.02/C/380/2023 concerning the second booster dose of Covid-19 vaccination for the public issued on Jan. 20.

The circular letter mentioned that all Covid vaccines must be authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM).

Syahril said the second booster dose of Covid-19 vaccination must be given six months after the first booster dose.

"Vaccination must be carried out at health service facilities and/or the Covid-19 vaccination centers," he said.

Source: State News Antara