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Jokowi touts successful vaccination drive amid Omicron spike
Even though Indonesia continues to record daily caseload figures in the low three digits, concerns over the Omicron strain of COVID-19 continues to grow.
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The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) opened on Jan. 3 with an optimistic message from President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. (Courtesy of IDX/-)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo waxed lyrical on Monday about his administration’s success in overturning last year’s disastrous wave of COVID-19 infections as he symbolically opened the first day of 2022 trading at the bourse amid a spike in Omicron cases.
By most accounts, especially considering the sheer size of its population, Indonesia has done remarkably well to overcome what Jokowi called a “very difficult year”, which saw over 143,000 deaths occur nearly 10 months since the nation reported its first COVID-19-related fatality.
The country has also curbed the number of daily new infections from a peak of around 56,000 cases in July of last year to just 174 as of Sunday, thanks in large part to the state’s success in administering more than 281 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, the President said.
“To put 280 million shots into arms within a year is no mean feat. Due to our geography, we’ve had to vaccinate on boats, on motorcycles and up mountains on foot,” he said in a speech to open the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).
The vaccination drive, which started in January last year, has provided full coverage to 114 million Indonesians, more than half of the intended target population. Of the 34 provinces, at least 27 have administered the first jab of a two-dose vaccine to 70 percent of the targeted population.
Meanwhile, vaccinations for minors ages 6-11, which began last month, have reached 3.8 million doses. For teens up to 17 years old, 17 million are fully inoculated.
“This has been the result of our hard work, from the central government, regional administrations, the military, the police force and intelligence, as well as private companies big and small – all of them have contributed. Civil society has contributed,” the President said. “Togetherness and gotong royong [mutual cooperation], they are our assets.”
