Gov’t to Speed Up Vaccination in Regions with Low Vaccination Coverage

Minister of Health Budi G. Sadikin in a press statement after attending the Limited Cabinet Meeting on Evaluation of Public Activity Restrictions (PPKM) on Monday (18/10). (Photo by: PR/Jay)

The Government has announced it is targeting 208.27 million people to be vaccinated in a bid to achieve herd immunity as a measure to tackle COVID-19 pandemic.

“President Joko Widodo ordered us to speed up national vaccination drive, especially in provincial capitals with low vaccination coverage such as in densely populated cities and in areas that will hold big events, such as Mandalika,” Minister of Health Budi Gunadi said in a statement after attending a virtual limited cabinet meeting on evaluation of public activity restrictions (PPKM), Monday (18/10).

Citing the data from Ministry of Health as of 18 October 2021 at 18:00 Western Indonesian Time, the three provinces with the lowest number of first-dose vaccinated people are Aceh (28.23 percent), West Sumatra (28.14 percent), and Papua (23.86 percent).

The Minister also reported that the national vaccination coverage as of 18 October 2021 reached 172 million doses or about 52 percent of the target.

“A total of 108 million people has received the first dose and 63 million people has received the second dose,” he added.

Budi Gunadi also underscored that the target of two million doses of daily vaccination was also achieved in September (22, 23, 29, and 30) and October (13 and 14) with a peak of 2.2 million jabs per day.

At this rate, the Minister continued, it is estimated that by the end of 2021 the national COVID-19 vaccination coverage could reach around 300 million doses.

“[We estimated that] of 208 million people, 168 million or 80.5 percent of it have received the first dose of vaccine. We also estimate that the second dose can reach 122 million people or about 59 percent of our target population of 208 million people who are over 12 years old,” he remarked. (PR/FID/UN) (GWH/EP)