VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia has received an additional 2,000,700 doses of finished Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed directly to 12 provinces.

"The purchase of the vaccine is to augment the national vaccine stocks. Currently, Indonesia has received 280,527,920 doses of vaccines in the form of semi-finished and finished goods," spokesperson for the Health Ministry Siti Nadia Tarmizi said in a written statement received here on Sunday.

She informed that the 87th batch of vaccines had arrived through two airports -- Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Banten Province and Juanda Airport in East Java Province.

The vaccines that arrived at Soekarno-Hatta Airport will be disbursed to the Provincial Health Offices in Aceh, Bengkulu, East NusaTenggara, Gorontalo, Jambi, North Sumatra, Riau, Riau Islands, South Kalimantan, West Java, and West NusaTenggara.

Meanwhile, the vaccines received through Juanda Airport will be allocated to East Java Provincial Health Office only.

The arrival of the vaccines is expected to accelerate, the  distribution of vaccines  to all regions in Indonesia – especially remote and outermost areas.

"The government keeps striving to secure the vaccine stocks and send the vaccines directly to provinces   across  Indonesia in order  to shorten the distribution chain and maintain vaccine access for all people,” the spokesperson continued.

Furthermore, she reminded the public to get vaccinated soon and  not to be picky about the vaccine types – be it Pfizer, Sinovac, Moderna, AstraZeneca, or others -- as all of them are safe and effective.

In addition, she urged the people to remain disciplined in implementing health protocols.

"Vaccine is  not the only means that  protects us against COVID-19 while we are conducting  daily activities in public places," she reasoned.

Hence, the government continues to encourage local governments with low vaccination coverage to expedite their vaccination programs, especially for vulnerable groups comprising the elderly.

According to Tarmizi, some regions still have low vaccination coverage for the elderly -- for instance Aceh, North Maluku, Papua, and West Sumatra.

"I hope each region can make a number of strategies to increase vaccination coverage for the vulnerable group based on the availability of vaccines in their respective regions," she added. (Antaranews)