Indonesia Secures Another Batch of AstraZeneca Vaccine

Arrival of one million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine via Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang, Banten province, Friday (16/7). (Source: Presidential Secretariat YouTube)

In a bid to achieve herd immunity, the Indonesian Government on Friday (16/7) received one million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in finished form, via Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang, Banten province.

“Today, we have once again received 1,041,400 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine in finished form. The total vaccine that we have received until this morning reaches 141,315,880 [doses] of vaccine,” Secretary-General of Ministry of Health Oscar Primadi said in his press statement, welcoming the arrival of the vaccine.

The vaccine, Oscar said, is part of a bilateral agreement between AstraZeneca and the Government on the supply of 50 million doses of vaccine for Indonesia.

“We would like to express our gratitude to AstraZeneca for helping the Indonesian people in obtaining vaccines and to all elements who have helped facilitate the arrival and distribution of the vaccines to all over the country,” he added.

Oscar said that in line with intensified efforts to bring in vaccine supplies, the Government will also continue to accelerate and expand vaccination coverage to meet the target set by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

“We are thankful, with the arrival of the vaccine, we can continue to accelerate and expand the vaccination drive so that we can meet the vaccination target of two million jabs per day, especially in August,” he said.

The accelerated vaccination is very crucial to suppress the rising trend of COVID-19 transmission rate in the country, he added.

To that end, Oscar appealed to the public to participate in the vaccination drive currently being rolled out by the Government.

“Once again, we hope that we can control this pandemic, we can continue to increase vaccinations so that our efforts in achieving herd immunity can continue well. The best vaccine is the vaccine that already exists. Let’s immediately get vaccinated to accelerate towards herd immunity,” he said. (UN) FI/MUR)