VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia has advanced to fourth place globally in terms of COVID-19 vaccination coverage, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin informed at a press conference on Monday.

"In terms of vaccinations, this week, thank God, Indonesia managed to rise to the fourth rank globally, surpassing Brazil in terms of the number of people vaccinated," the minister said.

Indonesia is currently behind China, which has administered 1.2 billion doses, India 880 million doses, and the United States 246 million in the number of vaccines administered, he added.

According to Sadikin, Indonesia has administered more than 169 million COVID-19 vaccines, surpassing Brazil, which has provided 166 million doses so far.

A total of 288 million doses have been given to Indonesians so far, with first doses administered to about 170 million people and second doses to 116 million people, he informed.

Indonesia has received a total of 446 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, he said.

"So, if 288 million have been administered, there are still more than 150 million doses that we can provide," he said.

The minister also said that President Joko Widodo will soon provide the technical guidance for the COVID-19 booster vaccination.

"Mr. President has agreed and there will be a special press conference by him to give an update regarding this booster vaccine," he informed.

Sadikin also said that five provinces have not reached the 70-percent target for the first dose—West Sumatra, West Sulawesi, Maluku, West Papua, and Papua.

"Almost all provinces have reached 70 percent. Last week, there were Aceh province, West Kalimantan province," he said.

According to data from the COVID-19 Task Force, as of Monday, an additional 392,712 people received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, thereby increasing the coverage to 170,536,338 people.

Meanwhile, 179,332 people received the second dose, bringing the total number of recipients of the complete dose to 116,999,284. (Antaranews)