Indonesia receives another 15 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine

Indonesia received the third bulk of COVID-19 vaccine by Chinese manufacturer Sinovac Biotech one day prior to the start of the national vaccination campaign.

Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine in bulk before being transported to Indonesia 

The batch of 15 million doses was transferred to the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta's western outskirts on January 12.

Indonesian earlier received 1.2 million doses of the vaccine on December 6, 2020 and 1.8 million doses on December 31 from Sinovac Biotech.

Head of the country’s COVID-19 Task Force Doni Monardo called on the public to strictly observe health regulations despite the upcoming vaccination programme.

The Southeast Asian nation witnessed a surge in infection number in the past two months. Official data showed that about 123,000 patients are being treated, twice of the 54,000 recorded in last November.

The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) gave Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine the emergency use authorisation (EUA) on January 11, following data stating it is 65.3 percent effective.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is set to be the first to get the shot in a live broadcast ceremony. Afterwards, priority will be given to 1.3 million health workers in the first phase.

On January 11, the country decided to extend the ban of foreigners’ entry for another two weeks to January 28 amidst the continued spread of COVID-19. It first imposed the ban after the appearance of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the country./.

VNA