A total of 1.8 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine made by the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrived in Indonesia on Thursday, according to Indonesian government officials.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said this is the second batch of the Sinovac vaccine delivery for Indonesia, and the first batch of 1.2 million doses arrived on December 6, the Xinhua news agency reported.
“With this arrival, it means that there are already 3 million doses of Sinovac vaccine in Indonesia,” Marsudi told a virtual press conference.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said vaccination is one of Indonesia’s main strategies to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, adding, “It would take more than 12 months to complete the vaccination program, so we always keep up to health protocols.”
Indonesia is planning to vaccinate 181.5 million of its population in 2021 in order to achieve herd immunity and break the chain of coronavirus transmissions.
The first period of vaccination will be from January to April 2021, for inoculating 1.3 million medical workers, 17.4 million public workers, and 21.5 million elderly people.
The second period will run from April 2021 to March 2022 for vaccination of 63.9 million vulnerable people and 77.4 million people of other groups.