Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has ensured that COVID-19 vaccine stocks in the country are still sufficient for meeting inoculation requirements for the next month.

“We have in stock 252 million doses of vaccine, of which 241 million have been distributed to provinces, districts, and cities. Of the 241 million doses, 194 million doses have been used,” Sadikin stated during a virtual press conference monitored here, Monday.

With that figure, the minister confirmed to the availability of some 47 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in districts and cities. Sadikin emphasized that the quantity would suffice as stocks for districts and cities for the next month.

The minister noted that under the national vaccination program being implemented, 50 million vaccine doses have currently been administered in five weeks.

“Hence, the stocks in districts, cities, and provinces are sufficient for the next month,” the minister stated.

On the occasion, the health minister also emphasized that the government will ensure stringent implementation of health protocols ahead of the 2021 year-end holidays, or Christmas and New Year’s holidays, to prevent a surge in COVID-19 cases.

“Strict implementation of health protocols is essential because since the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia is currently sloping, we want to ensure that health protocols can be implemented as well as possible to prevent a spike in cases, especially ahead of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays,” Sadikin noted

In a bid to boost immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021. President Joko Widodo was the first recipient of the program.

According to the Health Ministry’s data, as of November 1, 2021, nearly 120,052,587 citizens have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, while 74,088,927 have been fully vaccinated against the virus.

Source: Antara News