VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A woman receives a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine during a mass vaccination program for Green Zone Tourism in Sanur, Bali, Indonesia, Mar 23, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Nyimas Laula) - 

Indonesia is temporarily halting the distribution of one batch of AstraZeneca vaccine to run tests for sterility and toxicity following reports of adverse effects after immunisations, the health ministry said on Sunday (May 16).

The batch consists of 448,480 vaccine doses that arrived in the country last month, part of a delivery of more than 3.85 million doses.

Indonesia's health minister said last month that the schedule for about 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine faced delays.

Health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told a parliamentary hearing that Indonesia would receive 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine via a bilateral deal in 2021, instead of the 50 million doses initially agreed.

The remaining 30 million doses were due to be shipped by the second quarter of 2022, he said.

Indonesia is also slated to receive 54 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in phases via the COVAX global-vaccine alliance scheme, though Budi said Indian export restrictions would delay shipments in April//CNA