First dose vaccinations in Riau province have crossed the 70 percent mark as of December 23, 2021, spokesperson for the provincial COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Indra Yovi, has informed.

“Alhamdulillah (thank God), the first dose vaccination coverage in Riau, as of this Thursday morning, has surpassed 70 percent,” he remarked at the Riau Province Regional Building on Thursday

The task force will continue efforts to ramp up both first and second dose vaccinations in the province, he said.

“We hope tha our vaccination coverage would reach 80 percent by the end of December 2021, as well as with the hope that the achievement of the first dose vaccinations in Riau will be ranked first on the island of Sumatra,” he added.

“For that reason, we need support from all parties. Let us make COVID-19 vaccinations a success in Riau, and hopefully, in Sumatra, Riau can get the first rank for the achievement of the first dose vaccinations,” he remarked.

He also said that COVID-19 vaccinations must be expedited, especially to anticipate the threat presented by the Omicron variant that has entered the country.

To boost immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021. President Joko Widodo was the first vaccine recipient under the program.

According to data provided by the Health Ministry, as of December 23, 2021, nearly 154,791,737 Indonesian citizens have received their first COVID-19 shot, while 109,535,337 have been fully vaccinated against the virus.

Recently, the government also started inoculating children aged 6–11 against COVID-19. The program is targeting 26.5 million children across Indonesia.

Source: Antara News