Indonesia Highlights: Cleric Named Suspect in Holding Mass Gathering amid Pandemic | Healthcare Workers in Java, Bali First to Get Covid-19 Vaccine | Over 6,000 New Covid-19 Cases

2. Healthcare Workers in Java, Bali to Get Covid-19 Vaccine First: Ministry of Health

Indonesian healthcare workers in Java and Bali islands will be the priority group to receive the 1.2 million doses of coronavirus vaccine that have recently arrived from China, an official said on Thursday.

Siti Nadia Tarmizi, a spokesperson for the Covid-19 mass vaccination program at the Ministry of Health, said that the vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac will also be given to assistants for healthcare workers and support personnel at the healthcare facilities.

“[The vaccine] will be given to 1.2 million healthcare workers, assistants for healthcare workers, and support personnel at the healthcare facilities throughout Java and Bali regions,” Nadia told Kompas.com on December 10.

She explained that the healthcare workers in Java and Bali are the top priority in Covid-19 vaccination because the two regions are Indonesia’s most populous islands.

Besides, the highest number of Covid-19 cases is on Java island. “Java constitutes about 60 percent of our country’s population and many Covid-19 cases are found in Java island,” she said.

Source: https://go.kompas.com/read/2020/12/10/190503074/healthcare-workers-in-java-bali-to-get-covid-19-vaccine-first-ministry-of-health.