VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian government has set the price for Sinopharm and CanSino vaccines that will be provided under the Gotong Royong Vaccination Program at Rp500 thousand per shot.

The price comprises Rp375 thousand as the cost of each vaccine dose and Rp125 thousand as the cost of inoculation, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, disclosed at an online press conference originating from the Presidential Palace that ANTARA joined on Monday.

"Thus the total amount is Rp500,000," Hartarto said.

Based on the Indonesian Health Ministry Regulation No.10/2021 on the Gotong Royong Vaccination Scheme, all costs will be borne by participating companies.

Thus, under the private inoculation drive, employees of participating enterprises will receive vaccines free of charge, as revealed on the government's website www.covid19.go.id.

"This Gotong Royong vaccination program will get started at the end of May (2021),” the minister said, adding that the government has signed contracts for securing vaccine supplies.

The government has signed a contract with Sinopharm for 7.5 million doses and with CanSino for five million vaccine doses, he informed.

Indonesia has been striving to win the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic since March last year.

To stem the transmission of the lethal virus, the government has rolled out a nationwide vaccination program since January 13 this year.

The Health Ministry is seeking to vaccinate 181.5 million people under the national program, which is expected to take 15 months.

The time-frame for conducting the vaccination has been set from January, 2021 to March, 2022.

During the period, the government is targeting to inoculate about 181.5 million people, comprising 1.3 million paramedics and 17.4 million public sector workers in 34 provinces.

The first phase of the government's immunization program has been segregated into two periods: January-April, 2021 and April, 2021-March, 2022.

Even amid vaccine rollouts, Indonesia has been reeling under the impact of the coronavirus pandemic that has crippled nations across the globe.

Indonesia's public health and economy have been dealt a major blow by the crisis, with some sectors, including travel and tourism, battered badly by the pandemic.

To revive the tourism sector, the Indonesian government is planning to implement a travel bubble scheme with some countries.

In the first stage of its implementation, the Indonesia-Singapore travel corridor will officially allow travel for people between Singapore and Bintan, Riau Islands.  (Antaranews)