VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian government has prepared 426 million COVID-19 vaccines for around 181 million Indonesians in a bid to create herd immunity against the virus.

Taking into account that a single person would need to be given two doses of the vaccine and in compliance with the WHO guidelines, the government has prepared 15 percent of vaccine reserves, so the total number of doses required is around 426 million, said Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"Of the 269 million Indonesians, if we want to pursue herd immunity over the age of 18, there are 188 million [citizens]. Of these 188 million, the target of vaccination is 181 million people," he informed.

According to the minister, this number is quite large and the government has been trying hard to ensure that there will be adequate doses of the vaccine available.

To secure the vaccines, the government has used four bilateral channels and one multilateral route.

"Of the four bilateral routes, we have signed a contract with Sinovac for 125 million vaccines and have the option to add [to] them. We have also signed with Novavax for 100 million doses, and there is a portion that we will definitely take and there is a portion of options [doses reserved for optional expansion]," Sadikin informed.

A contract with AstraZeneca for 100 million vaccine doses will soon be signed, of which 50 million doses have been confirmed and the rest have been reserved for optional expansion, he said.

The government will also sign a contract with BioNtech Pfizer soon for 100 million doses, of which 50 million doses have been confirmed and the rest have been reserved for optional expansion, he added.

Contract finalization with AstraZeneca and Pfizer will take place in the near future, Sadikin said.

"So, [of] a total of about 400 million doses of the vaccine, 100 million will be imported from China, 100 million from Novavax, namely an American-Canadian company, 100 million from AstraZeneca, a company from England, 100 million more from Pfizer, a joint company from Germany and US," Sadikin stated.

The agreements with four different companies were made to guarantee the arrival of vaccines, he noted.

"It is hoped that the vaccines will come gradually to Indonesia and [the authorities will] immediately inject all the people of Indonesia, namely 181 million people, so we hope that at the beginning of next year all the vaccine procurement readiness processes will be completed," Sadikin said.

Meanwhile, through the multilateral approach, Indonesia has entered into the GAVI COVAX Facility, which is providing vaccines for free to member countries.

"The numbers are still moving on how much is [to be] given to Indonesia, but the range is 3 percent of the population, [or] 100 million doses. So, we are making contracts with options from vaccine suppliers so that there is certainty of procurement from GAVI, which is free, so we don't need to take vaccines from the company, " Sadikin remarked.

This means, according to Sadikin, Indonesia has secured around 330 million doses and reserved 330 million doses for optional expansion.

"So, we have secured 660 million [doses]. We have a sufficient buffer if there are several sources that fail to be clinically tested or [there is] delay in the delivery process," he said. (antaranews)