TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Indonesia receives 5.7 million Pfizer vaccines in 3 batches
Change Size
Accelerated jab: A student of SMP 1 Karawang Junior High School is given a COVID-19 vaccine dose. The government received three batches of Pfizer vaccines from Saturday to Monday. (Kompas.com/Farida)
T
he Director General of Information and Public Communication at the Communications and Information Ministry, Usman Kansong, has announced that Indonesia received 5.7 million Pfizer-manufactured COVID-19 vaccines in three shipments from Saturday to Monday.
In accordance with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s orders, the vaccines are to be distributed to the regions to boost vaccination levels there.
“The vaccines from batches 126, 127 and 128 have landed in various cities of Indonesia and will be directly distributed to regional health agencies. We expect to use every single dose of the vaccine effectively, for the sake of community health protection,” Usman said.
Batches 126 and 127 made up part of the United States government’s donation through COVAX. Batch 126 consisted of more than 2.6 million doses of Pfizer vaccines and arrived on Saturday. Batch 127 contained more than 800,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. “The government praises the US government’s support in the form of 3.5 million Pfizer vaccines, which represents the harmonious relationship between the two countries,” Usman added.
He added that during a recent leaders’ meeting held in Scotland, President Jokowi had thanked US President Joe Biden for his cooperation in the health sector during the pandemic, which included sending vaccine materials through a dose-sharing scheme, ventilators, therapeutic medicines and other health equipment.
Batch 128 of the Pfizer vaccine, amounting to more than 2.2 million doses, was obtained through direct purchases and arrived on Sunday at four airports: Jakarta (Soekarno-Hatta International Airport), Semarang (Ahmad Yani International Airport), Surabaya (Juanda International Airport) and Balikpapan (Sepinggan International Airport).
The component of batch 128 that arrived in Jakarta was to be directly distributed to health agencies in West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Riau, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, Banten and West Java. The vaccines that arrived in the other three cities were to be distributed to the local health agencies in those three provinces.
With the arrival of the three batches, the country has received 355.7 million vaccine doses, both in bulk and ready-to-use forms. The government has been accelerating the vaccination scheme.
More than 267 million vaccine doses were distributed from January to October of this year. Besides ensuring the availability of vaccines, the vaccination program has been accelerated through greater public education about vaccination, especially directed at those who remain hesitant.
“We have confirmed that all COVID-19 vaccines have been guaranteed for their safety and efficacy, and also have already obtained the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency [BPOM] license,” Usman said. Quoting President Jokowi, he added that a small increase in cases had been seen recently in Indonesia.
“We need to stay alert and maintain our health protocol discipline. The current relaxation of public activity restrictions should not be seen as the end of the pandemic. Please be wise whenever choosing to travel and maintain health protocol discipline,” he said.
