998.400 Doses of AstraZeneca Vaccine Arrive in Indonesia

The arrival of AstraZeneca vaccines, Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang, Banten, Thursday (07/01). (Photo by: BPMI/Kris)

In a bid to achieve herd immunity among Indonesia’s population of 181.5 million people, the Government Thursday (07/01) secured 998,400 doses of Japan-manufactured AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

The finished vaccines that arrived in Soekarno-Hatta airport in Tangerang, Banten province is as a form of bilateral cooperation between the Government of Indonesia and the Government of Japan.

“I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the Ambassador of Japan (Kenji Kanasugi) and to the Government of Japan and also to all the Japanese people for their attention and assistance in helping the delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Indonesia,” Indonesian Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said in a statement.

The arrival of the vaccine is the first of the two planned delivery batches. The newly-arrived batch adds to the total AstraZeneca vaccine secured by Indonesia to 9,226,800 doses and adds to the total number of finished vaccines in the country to almost 100 million doses.

The Minister said that the vaccine donation from the Japanese government is a manifestation of the long-standing tie between the two countries.

“I sincerely hope that the Japanese people are always healthy and can overcome this pandemic together for the pandemic can only be tackled if all nations in the world work together,” he added.

In the meantime, Head of the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) Penny K. Lukito stated that the AstraZeneca vaccine that arrived is produced by Daiichi Sankyo Biotech in Japan.

“We (the BPOM) are always ready to assist and oversee this superb-quality vaccine until it is ready to be used for vaccination,” Penny said. (SLN/UN) (GWH/EP)