VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

An imam receives an AstraZeneca vaccine shot at the Dompak mosque hall, Tanjungpinang City, on Friday (March 26, 2021). (Ogen)

As many as three thousand mosque staff, including imams and mosque keepers (marbot) in Bintan Island, Riau Islands, will receive AstraZeneca vaccine shots ahead of Ramadhan 1442.

The vaccine program will also cover preachers, prayer callers (bilal) as well as officers of the Council of the National Forum for Islamic Study Grous (BKMT),

The vaccinations will be conducted at two venues — at the Dompak Island’s mosque hall in Tanjungpinang City and in Bintan district — and encompass 10 vaccination points.

“The vaccination program starts today, we have set the target to complete it in two days. A total of three thousand people — 1,300 people in Tanjungpinang and 1,700 people in Bintan — will receive the vaccine,” said Riau Islands’ COVID-19 Task Force chairman, TS Arif Fadillah, while reviewing the vaccination process for imams and mosque caretakers at Dompak Island’s mosque hall in Tanjungpinang on Friday.

Imams and keepers will receive two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The second dose will be administered 28 days after the first inoculation.“This vaccine is different from Sinovac, which only requires a 14-day interval between the first and second dose,” Fadillah said.

The vaccination is aimed at providing security and comfort to imams and keepers in performing tarawih prayers at the mosque during Ramadhan, he added.

They are expected to feel more confident about interacting with people at mosques after getting vaccinated, he explained. The situation this year will not be like last Ramadhan, when mosques were closed due to rising concerns over COVID-19 spread, he added.

“We will try to keep the mosques open after the imams and keepers are vaccinated, and under strict health protocols,” he said.

Fadillah then urged other regions in Riau Islands to prepare vaccinations for imams and keepers to create a secure and conducive environment ahead of Ramadhan.He also asked them to accelerate the distribution of AstraZeneca vaccines from the city center to the regions, from where they have to be distributed to districts or towns.

The Riau Islands has received 50 thousand doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, of which 35 thousand doses have been sent to Batam City, while the rest have been reserved for Bintan Island, including Tanjungpinang City and Bintan district.

“Starting next week, the vaccines will arrive in the Riau Islands. A total of 260 thousand doses of the AstraZenecca vaccine will be sent here,” Fadillah informed//ANT