VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Pfizer vaccine can be used for citizens aged above 12 in the country, spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, has said.

"The Pfizer vaccine can be used for people aged 12 years and over and local governments who will receive Pfizer vaccine allocations are asked to be able to administer them immediately so that people in their regions can be protected and increase the coverage of the vaccination program," he said at an online press conference here on Thursday.

On Thursday (August 19), the Indonesian government received 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, Adisasmito said.

The Drug and Food Control Agency (BPOM) had issued Emergency-Use of Authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer vaccine in July 2021.

According to BPOM, the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine is 100 percent for the 12-15 year age group and 95.5 percent for those aged 16 years and above.

"In addition to the Pfizer vaccines, today the government also received 450 thousand doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through a bilateral scheme," Adisasmito informed on Thursday.

The spokesperson said he hoped that the arrival of the vaccines would accelerate the national vaccination program so more people in the country could get vaccinated.

In a bid to stem the spread of COVID-19 and build herd immunity, the Indonesian government had launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021, with President Joko Widodo becoming the nation's first vaccine recipient.

As of Thursday (August 19, 2021), 56,322,284 people (27.04 percent of the target population) have received the first vaccine dose and 30,590,045 people (14.69 percent of the target population) have received the second dose of the vaccine, according to data from the Ministry of Health.  (Antaranews)