VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 17 - The State-owned Enterprises (SOE) Ministry is preparing to set up joint vaccination centers in several cities, such as Semarang, Surabaya, Bandung, and Banten, as part of efforts to build herd immunity against COVID-19.

"The plan is that next week we will open it (joint vaccination center) in Semarang, (and) at the end of March, we will open it in Surabaya,” spokesperson for the SOE Ministry, Arya Sinulingga, revealed here on Tuesday.

The ministry is also planning to expand its immunization capacity by extending the vaccination venue to the Tennis Indoor Senayan Building in the Gelora Bung Karno Senayan area, Jakarta, from just Istora Senayan previously, he added.

The vaccination capacity at Istora Senayan has reached five thousand to seven thousand people per day, Arya said.

With the addition of the Tennis Indoor Building, Arya said he hopes that COVID-19 vaccination coverage from the BUMN Ministry for the Jakarta area can be increased to 12 thousand to 14 thousand people per day.

The joint vaccination center set up by the ministry at Istora Senayan has been functional for the last nine days.

According to Arya, the public's enthusiasm for the vaccination program has been very high.

On Tuesday (March 16, 2021), 7,500 people were vaccinated at the joint vaccination center, Arya informed.

"The possibility is that the vaccination of the elderly plus public service officers on the 9th day has reached 50 thousand today," he added.

The SOE Ministry is planning to open joint vaccination centers in Bandung and Banten during the second phase of the national vaccination program in April, 2021.

Each center will target to vaccinate up to five thousand people every day, as part of efforts to expedite the COVID-19 vaccination program in Indonesia, Arya said.

So far, the government has vaccinated 4,468,951 Indonesians against the coronavirus. Of the total figure, 1,716,749 people have received their second vaccine dose as well. (Antaranews)