VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Feb. 4 - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on Thursday afternoon, bore witness to the mass vaccinations for health workers in Jakarta.

Based on a live video broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat monitored in Jakarta, Thursday, President Jokowi, accompanied by Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, visited the location of mass vaccination for health workers at the Istora Senayan Building, here.

Wearing a mask and face shield, the head of state also took time out to speak to one of the health workers, who was about to be administered the COVID-19 vaccine.

The head of state then toured several vaccination locations in the building.

Based on information from the broadcast video, the Ministry of Health is targeting to vaccinate as many as six thousand health workers in DKI Jakarta this Thursday. Vaccinations for health workers in DKI Jakarta will be conducted this Thursday from 8:30 to 15:30 Western Indonesia Time (WIB).

The mass vaccination was organized by the Ministry of Health, DKI Jakarta Health Service, and PT Bio Farma Persero.

As of Thursday, over 600 thousand health workers were injected with the COVID-19 vaccine. Health workers are the priority targets for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Ministry of Health has outlined a target to inoculate 1.5 million health workers by the end of February 2021.

Once the health workers are vaccinated, the government will offer the COVID-19 vaccine for free to 17.4 million public service officers.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin earlier stated that the government had set itself a target of inoculating 1.5 million health professionals by late February of 2021.

"It is estimated that by the end of this month, we will have vaccinated 500 thousand healthcare workers. Hence, we can achieve the target of (inoculating) 1.5 million of them through the end of February," Sadikin stated during an online seminar on Saturday.

After the vaccination of medical workers is completed, the government will begin administering the COVID-19 vaccine to public service officers, including military and police personnel.

Sadikin is optimistic that the vaccination of public service officers would be rolled out in early March of this year, and the general public can receive their first vaccine doses, starting from late April this year.

The minister pointed out that several vaccine producers had yet to complete clinical tests that had led to uncertainty over the immune period. Hence, he called for expediting the vaccination process.

Indonesia has currently secured vaccine supply from four different producers: 125 million doses from China’s Sinovac and 50 million doses each from Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Novavax. (Antaranews)