VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The number of Indonesians who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 has reached 33,357,249, with 262,744 additional people receiving the second or final dose on Thursday, the Health Ministry has reported.

Based on data received from the ministry, the number of people who have received the first vaccine dose increased by 415,601 on Thursday, taking the total tally to 59,426,934.

The government is targeting to fully vaccinate 208,265,720 Indonesians to achieve herd immunity against the deadly virus.

So far, 1,517,893 health workers against the 1,468,764 health workers targeted by the vaccination program have received both vaccine doses.

Meanwhile, 502,719 health workers have taken the third or booster shot.

In the older adults category, of the 21,553,118 people targeted by the government, so far, 3,658,276 people have received both doses of the vaccine.

Of the 17,327,167 public service officers targeted by the government, 18,131,469 have been fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, among the vulnerable people and the general public, of the 141,211,181 targeted recipients, 8,182,296 have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

In the 12–17 age group, 1,442,731 of the 26,705,490 targeted recipients have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Data from the Ministry of Health has shown that Indonesia added 16,899 COVID-19 cases, 30,099 recoveries, and 889 deaths on Thursday (August 26, 2021). (Antaranews)

Indonesia's efforts to cut carbon emissions are dependent on five primary sectors -- forestry, energy as well as transportation, waste, farming, and industry, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said.

"We have formulated policies that are capable of attracting a lot of investment to build those sectors, so that those five sectors can achieve their CO2 reduction target," Indrawati said during an online discussion here on Thursday.

Each of the five sectors has a different carbon emission reduction target, she noted.

The forestry sector is targeting to reduce emissions by up to 17 percent, while the energy and transportation sector is trying to cut emissions by up to 11 percent, she informed.

The waste, farming, and industry sectors are targeting to reduce carbon emissions by 0.38 percent, 0.32 percent, and 0.1 percent, respectively, she said.

"(Efforts to fulfill) Indonesia's commitment to reach Net Zero Emission by 2060 have to be done consistently," Indrawati asserted.

Hence, large funding is required in addition to hard work and policies to reduce carbon emissions, she said.

One of the sectors that will require very large funding is energy and transportation due to the energy transition from non-renewable energy to renewable energy, she explained.

"All of this requires a very large investment cost and cannot be done solely through the state budget. It even cannot be done by Indonesia alone," Indrawati pointed out.

The finance minister revealed that in order to tackle climate change, Indonesia would need Rp3.461 trillion, or equivalent to US$266 billion, until 2030.

"This means that our ministries/institutions' spending has only covered around 21 percent of the fund required to achieve the Paris commitment or Net Zero Emission by 2060," she remarked. (Antaranews)

The Health Ministry has initiated the development of a national vaccine cold chain logistics infrastructure to allow for storage of vaccines at a temperature of up to minus 80 degrees Celsius, in collaboration with UNICEF.

"We have received 1.5 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccines through business-to-business collaboration. However, this kind of vaccine requires a different cold chain distribution channel," Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said while attending a meeting with Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives here on Wednesday.

“We received the vaccines at a temperature of minus 80 degrees Celsius. In such conditions, the vaccines can be stored for six months. However, our current regional cold chain logistics infrastructure only manages to reach minus 25 degrees Celsius. Thus, if we send the doses to various cities and districts, they will only last two weeks," he explained.

The next step is to transfer vaccines to special boxes that can maintain a temperature of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, he informed. The boxes have been widely used during the vaccination process at healthcare facilities, he said. The doses would have a shelf life of four weeks when stored in the boxes, he added.

"Thus, as long as it is certain that the vaccines will be injected within six weeks, we still can use the existing cold chain logistics channel," Sadikin noted.

Hence, the government has decided to buy 55 units of special storage devices that can reach a temperature of minus 80 degrees Celsius through UNICEF to strengthen the national cold chain logistics distribution channel, he said.

As an international organization that provides humanitarian assistance and supports long-term children’s welfare development, UNICEF has distributed billions of vaccines annually for children's vaccination programs all around the world, the minister added.

"We will buy the devices directly through the organization because they are offering a cheaper price and faster availability of the products. We will distribute the storage units to all 34 provincial capitals to become cold chain logistics hubs for vaccines that need to be stored at up to minus 80 degrees Celsius," Sadikin informed.

The ministry had also lobbied the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (COVAX-GAVI) to be granted 17 cold chain storage units. The devices are expected to arrive next week.

"We will temporarily place them at the Health Ministry and PT Bio Farma (Persero) before disbursing them to the regions," the ministry informed. (Antaranews)

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Wednesday outlined the primary focus of the central government's spending allocation, which has been determined to be around Rp1.938.3 trillion in the 2022 State Budget Draft (RAPBN).

During a meeting here on Wednesday, Indrawati said that, on average, the central government's spending has grown by 13.5 percent from 2019 to 2021 — from Rp1,496.3 trillion in 2019 to Rp1,833 trillion in 2020 — and it is projected to reach Rp1,927 trillion in 2021.

Most of the spending will be utilized for COVID-19 handling and social aid since people need the incentives that the government is providing, she highlighted.

Meanwhile, the government will conduct normalization toward the utilization of next year's spending budget by spending funds to develop human resources through the education, health, and social protection sector, Indrawati informed.

"So it is used to build health, education, and social protection foundation such as infrastructure. Connectivity and ICT are especially a priority," she said.

For next year, the central government's primary spending focus will be to support structural reformation in the health, social protection, and education sectors, she added.

This will be done in consideration of how next year is going to be an exceptional year toward fiscal consolidation, the minister elaborated.

For a smooth transition toward fiscal consolidation in 2023, there will be synergy improvement in a variety of priority programs in the Government's Working Plan (RKP), the minister said.

There will also be a more accurate subsidy grant as well as the anticipation of fiscal risk mitigation in the utilization of the state budget, she added.

In addition, the central government's spending will also be focusing on supporting the completion of strategic infrastructure construction, operational implementation, and activities that align with the new method of working and the utilization of information technology, Indrawati informed. (Antaranews)