President Jokowi Orders TNI, Police to Take Part in Speeding Up Vaccination

Head of COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Committee Airlangga Hartarto and Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin delver a press statement after a limited meeting on COVID-19 pandemic management, Monday (14/06/2021) in Jakarta. (Photo: PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Agung)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has ordered the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) and the Indonesian National Police (Polri) to step in to speed up COVID-19 vaccination so that the vaccination target of 700,000 jabs per day in June and one million jabs per day in July can be achieved.

“The President has ordered the TNI and Polri to join hands in the vaccination program carried out by regional governments, to vaccinate up to 400,000 (people) per day. This way, 600,000 vaccinations per day will be achieved by regional governments, whereas 400,000 injections per day will be carried out by the TNI and Polri,” Minister of Health Budi Gunadi told the press after a limited meeting on COVID-19 pandemic management, Monday (14/06) at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta.

Budi added that the President has also instructed his Ministry to ensure the smooth implementation of the vaccination.

“We have been asked to ensure that the coordination goes well and vaccines are safe,” he said, adding that besides speeding up vaccination, the President also stressed the importance of implementing micro-scale public activity restriction (PPKM) policy.

“The President’s directives include, first, implementation of health protocols (and) micro-scale PPKM and, second, acceleration of vaccination. He has also ordered for those to be carried out immediately,” he remarked. (MAY/UN) (DH/EP)