COVID-19 Vaccination, Observing Health Protocols Must Go Hand in Hand: Foreign Minister

Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno L. P. Marsudi (Photo: Bureau of Press, Media, and Information of Presidential Secretariat)

In a bid to fulfill domestic demands, the Government continues to take measures to secure COVID-19 vaccine supplies as vaccination is crucial in curbing COVID-19 transmission rate, Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi has said.

“Once again, the Government will continue to take measures to ensure vaccine supplies, through both bilateral and multilateral schemes. This is not an easy endeavor amid the pandemic as vaccine supplies are very limited, whereas the global demand for vaccines is huge,” the Minister told the press while welcoming the arrival of 1.5 million doses of ready-to-use AstraZeneca-manufactured vaccine, Thursday (10/06).

According to Retno, several countries that have administered mass vaccination have been able to significantly reduce virus transmission rate.

Indonesia, she added, has aimed to inoculate 181.5 million or 70 percent of its population to achieve herd immunity.

“In Europe, the United Kingdom, for example, has lowered the number of daily cases from 60,000 to 5,000 cases per day after giving vaccine to 101.51 percent of its population. In the Americas, the United States has been able to reduce the number of daily cases from 300,000 to 12,000 per day after vaccinating 91.57 percent of its population,” she said.

However, Retno reminded the public that before achieving the expected vaccination percentage, health protocols must remain to be observed with discipline.

“Vaccination is a way to curb the number of cases and to tackle the pandemic. However, before achieving a big vaccination percentage, measures to curb the virus transmission rate must still be accompanied with a strict implementation of health protocols,” she said, adding that accordingly the Government needs the support of the public as an important element in the success of tackling the pandemic.

“The Government will continue to work hard to tackle the pandemic, including through vaccination and observing health protocols. These measures will bear fruit if we have the full support of the public. Each one of us, all of us can become a part of the solution. Let us successfully carry out COVID-19 vaccination and continue to observe health protocols,” she remarked.

For the record, following the latest arrival of AstraZeneca vaccine, Indonesia has a total of 93,728,400 doses of vaccine in which 84.5 million doses are Sinovac-manufactured vaccine, 8,228,400 doses are Astra-Zeneca manufactured vaccine, and one million doses are Sinopharm-manufactured vaccine. (SLN/UN) (DH/EP)