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Vaccine shortage jeopardizes government's 1 million a day vaccination target
In many vaccination centers, eligible recipients, including those who had already received their first shots, had to return home without getting their jabs.
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People wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine shot during a mass vaccination drive in Tangerang, Banten, on June 30. (Reuters/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana)
D
espite the government’s ambitious goal of administering 1 million vaccine shots a day this month and 2 million a day in August, many regions are currently grappling with vaccine scarcity.
In many vaccination centers, eligible recipients, including those who had already received their first shots, had to return home without getting their jabs.
"I was scheduled to receive my second shot [of the Sinovac vaccine] last Friday. But when I arrived at the nearby Puskesmas [community health center] where I got my first jab, they said they had no vaccines left," said Ruth Nathania, a 26-year-old office worker in Surabaya, East Java.
"They told me to go home without saying when my second dose would be available."
After returning to the Puskesmas multiple times and searching for an available second dose at other health facilities in Surabaya, Ruth finally got her second shot at the Puskesmas on Thursday.
She said, however, many of her neighbors were still unable to be fully vaccinated as most Puskesmas across Surabaya could only inoculate 50 people per day.
Read also: Govt drops self-paid COVID-19 vaccinations after public outcry
