VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Ministry of Health seeks to normalize the stock of Meningococcal Meningitis (MM) vaccine for travellers, including prospective Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. Given the MM vaccine is a mandatory requirement for travelers to Saudi Arabia.

"The normalization of the MM vaccine stock will last until January 2023. Vaccination services are prioritized for pilgrims whose departure time is near," said the Director General of Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health, Maxi Rein in an official statement quoted by RRI.co.id, Friday (30/9/). 2022).

Currently, the Ministry of Health is identifying MM vaccine stocks throughout Indonesia. His party also relocated the stock of vaccines to the Port Health Office (KKP) whose vaccination targets were quite large.

"The Ministry of Health also coordinates with related parties such as the Ministry of Religion and the Association for Hajj and Umrah. To convey the importance of implementing MM vaccination and the current conditions regarding private vaccination services," said Maxi.

Furthermore, he said, the Ministry of Health coordinated with PT Biofarma and BPOM to meet the needs of the MM vaccine. From the results of the coordination carried out, an additional 225,000 doses of MM vaccine have been obtained from PT Biofarma.

In detail, as many as 150,000 doses of vaccine are intended for government compliance, while the remaining 75,000 doses are for private fulfillment. In addition, efforts to ensure the availability of MM vaccine are also carried out by encouraging the private sector to be involved.

"It is hoped that the MM vaccine can be distributed to health care facilities no later than the first week of October 2022. So that the implementation of the MM vaccination service for Umrah pilgrims can run well," he said. (RRI)