157 Million Doses of Covid-19 Vaccine Distributed across Indonesia

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia has received a total of 169 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine since the country’s biggest inoculation campaign was started in January this year, a top official said on Monday, September 13.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that of the total vaccine, 157 million doses have been distributed to all 34 provinces in Indonesia.

“We have received a total of 169 million doses of vaccine. Of this number, 157 million doses have been distributed to all regions, nine million doses are being delivered [to the provinces]. The government has a stock of three million doses of vaccine,” said Budi during a virtual meeting with the House of Representatives Commission IX overseeing health care and manpower.

Also read: Indonesia Hopes to Achieve Herd Immunity after Administering 100 Million Doses of Covid Vaccines

He added that of the 157 million doses, 116 million doses of which have already been administered.

“We have a stock of the vaccine for a month, that’s quite a lot. If two million doses of the vaccines would be administered [daily], the stock should be enough for 20 days,” said the minister.

The Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) also monitors the stock of vaccines in all regions to ensure transparency. “So, everyone can monitor the vaccine, especially the 41 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine stock in the regencies and provinces,” he added.

He mentioned that under the contract with vaccine producers, the payment for the vaccine will be made after receiving the vaccine. The vaccine producers will send their invoices to the government once the vaccines are received. The budget absorption reached only about 34 percent as the government has paid about 35-38 percent of the total vaccine.

Indonesia has targeted to vaccinate 181.5 million or 70 percent of the population to achieve herd community to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Two scenarios

During the meeting, the minister also mentioned that the government has prepared two scenarios in tackling the pandemic next year. This includes the steps taken during the normal situation and the resurgence of the Covid-19 cases.

Also read: Indonesia Prepares 5 Measures to Live with Endemic Covid-19: Task Force

He explained that the normal situation is referring to a better condition and the Covid-19 cases are not increasing. “So, it’s the scenario to deal with the endemic presence of coronavirus. We predict that the number of cases reaches 1.9 million cases annually. Scenario A is when the condition gets better or the number of cases is about 1.9 million.”

Meanwhile, scenario B is when a spike in Covid-19 cases occurs due to the spread of the new variant with an estimated case from two million to 3.9 million cases.

Budi said the two scenarios would affect the implementation of the testing, tracing, and treatment.

He went on to say that the ministry will prepare all laboratories in Indonesia to be able to detect new variants of the coronavirus by using the whole genome sequencing (WGS) method.

(Writers: Haryanti Puspa Sari, Haryanti Puspa Sari | Editors: Kristian Erdianto, Diamanty Meiliana)

Sources: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/09/13/16311891/menkes-157-juta-dosis-vaksin-covid-19-sudah-didistribusikan-ke-semua.

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/09/13/14142451/menkes-ungkap-dua-skenario-penanganan-covid-19-di-tahun-2022.