Indonesia on Friday received 6.086 million additional COVID-19 vaccines, comprising 5 million doses from Sinova in the form of finished products and 1.086 million doses from AstraZeneca, though a direct purchase scheme.
“With the arrival of the vaccines, it means that Indonesia has received 208.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine,” Bio Farma’s corporate secretary and COVID-19 spokesperson, Bambang Heriyanto, said in a written statement issued here on Friday.
According to him, the government is continuing to try to bring in vaccines to secure the stock of COVID-19 vaccines in the country.
He noted that 123,256,044 vaccines have been distributed throughout the country and added that Bio Farma will continue to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to locations that need vaccines, in accordance with directions from the Ministry of Health.
Regarding vaccination efforts, Prof. Dr. Soedjatmiko, SpA(K), MSi., from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia, welcomed Indonesia’s position as 6th in the world in terms of the number of people vaccinated and 7th in the world in terms of the number of vaccination doses administered.
Currently, more than 92.8 million Indonesians have received at least the first vaccine dose, he noted.
However, he said there is the need for more vaccination locations and an improvement in coordinating the need, delivery, and distribution of vaccines.
Meanwhile, immunization expert Dr. Elizabeth Jane Soepardi, MPH., DSc., said that to control the pandemic by achieving herd immunity, a minimum of 70 percent of the total population needs to be immunized.
According to her, currently, Indonesia has only vaccinated 21 percent of its population. Given the limited number of vaccines, to break the chain of virus transmission, local governments are expected to prioritize areas with the most COVID-19 cases, she said.
Generally, most cases occur in more densely populated areas with high mobility, she added.
Source: Antara News