Indonesia Receives Twenty-First Batch of Sinovac Vaccine Bulks

The arrival of COVID-19 Vaccine bulks in the 21st batch at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang, Banten, Monday (12/7). (Photo by: Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau/Kris)

The Government Monday (12/7) secured another 10 million dose of Sinovac bulk vaccine supply for the national vaccination drive targeting 181.5 million people in a bid to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19.

“Today (12/07), we received 10,000,280 doses of Sinovac in the form of raw materials. The arrival of these 10 million doses has increased the total number of Sinovac vaccines in the form of raw materials into 115,500,280 doses,” Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said in a press statement on the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines.

According to the Minister, the raw materials for the vaccine will be further processed into ready-to-use vaccines by state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma.

“We will have a total of 93 million doses of Sinovac vaccine next month,” he said, adding that those finished vaccines will also be distributed to all regions acrossIndonesia.

On that occasion, the Minister expressed gratitude for the support from all relevant stakeholders on the arrival and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.

“I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude to all parties who have supported the arrival of the vaccine up until the distribution process to all provinces in Indonesia. This is part of the efforts to expand the vaccination drive and to reach herd immunity faster so we could meet the target of two million doses per day in August,” he said.

Budi also underscored that the acceleration in the vaccination has become one of the Government’s measures to tackle the surge in COVID-19 cases.

“The implementation of strict health protocols and tightened public activity restrictions through an emergency PPKM and micro-scale PPKM as well as the 3T measures (testing, tracing, and treatment) will be incomplete if the vaccination does not run well,” he remarked.

Budi also pointed out that all necessary measures taken by the Government is expected to reduce the transmission rate quickly and to better control the pandemic.

“Therefore, the public should cooperate with the Government to make the vaccination program a success. The best vaccines are those available vaccines. Let us speed up vaccinations to achieve herd immunity,” he said. (FID/UN) (RIF/EP)