Indonesia Readies 18 Million Covid-19 Vaccines for Second Mass Vaccination

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The Indonesian Ministry of Health announced that it will distribute 18 million Covid-19 vaccines across Indonesia, as the government started the second stage of mass vaccinations throughout the country.

“[The Ministry of Health] will distribute 7.5 million doses of the vaccine to start the vaccination drive,” said the Ministry’s interim Director General for Disease Prevention and Control Maxi Rein Rondonuwu on Wednesday, February 17.

“This consignment will be followed by 11 million vaccine doses on the first week of March.”

Maxi added that “the supply includes the [Sinovac] Covid-19 vaccines manufactured by the Bio Farma Indonesian pharmaceutical company.”

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“We are also awaiting 4.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Great Britain. However, that shipment is still pending data from the World Health Organization [WHO] to the Food and Drug Agency or BPOM,” he noted.

“If BPOM issued the Emergency Use Authorization, that means that the Agency have researched the data for vaccinations from the WHO.”

Maxi asserted that the Ministry will cooperate with the private sector to distribute the Covid-19 vaccines. “The private sector’s cooperation is needed to ensure that the vaccines arrive at their destinations intact, in good quality at their respective decisions,” he said.

“The government will ensure that the vaccines are readily available due to their well-coordinated distribution.”

Meanwhile, the number of Covid-19 cases throughout Indonesia currently stand at 1,243,646, after an additional 9,686 people contracted the coronavirus. The number of fatalities currently stands at 33,788, after an additional 192 people died from Covid-19 over the past 24 hours.