VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. South Korean authorities are facing a backlash for relying on global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX for a bulk of its COVID-19 shots as shipment delays threaten to slow the country’s inoculation programme.

Once praised by the World Health Organization for its decision to procure vaccines through the global scheme, South Korea is now facing criticism at home as the government scrambles to meet the supply shortfall.

South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam are among countries to be hit by shipment delays to vaccines they have been promised following export curbs by manufacturer India.

In February, South Korea slashed its first quarter vaccination target from 1.3 million people to just 750,000 due to adjustments in the supply timetable of the 2.6 million doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine from COVAX.

The latest COVAX shipment disruption announced earlier this week - that it would only receive 432,000 doses instead of 690,000 and delivery would be delayed to around the third week of April - is the second time that South Korea’s vaccine rollout has been hit by delayed supply from the scheme.

“The government should no longer cause public anxiety with the vaccines,” Lee Yong-ho, an independent lawmaker who sits on parliament’s health and welfare committee, said.

“It should either impose export curbs on the locally produced vaccines until the supply uncertainties are resolved, or come up with a special vaccine procurement strategy and bring the originally contracted quantity as planned.”

South Korean health authorities said they were not considering restricting exports of locally produced vaccines, but instead, holding talks with vaccine makers and distributors to advance delivery timelines.

The efforts appear to be bearing fruit with the government announcing on Thursday that delivery of the 432,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines from COVAX would be brought forward to Saturday from the third week of April.

“(We) have accelerated administrative process and were able to bring forward the schedule from what COVAX had initially informed us,” the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.

The fluctuating shipment schedules have raised concerns about the country’s aim to immunise 12 million people by June, reaching herd immunity by November, but government officials have assured the goal is achievable.

“This is a very achievable target as we have factored supply schedule and our inoculation capability into the calculation,” Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a news conference on Thursday.

Assuming no further delays, South Korea is scheduled to receive 13.7 million doses in the second quarter -- 6 million from Pfizer Inc, 7 million from AstraZeneca and 729,000 from COVAX.

Oh Se-hoon, opposition candidate for Seoul’s mayoral by-election, attacked the government this week for its slow vaccine rollout, which he said was the world’s 105th to kick off.

The slow rollout was partly due to the country’s early strategy to focus more on containing the virus through aggressive testing and contact tracing than striking bilateral vaccine deals.

While most wealthy nations had shunned joint purchases through COVAX, raising concerns over vaccine inequity, South Korea committed to procure vaccines from the scheme which earned praise from the WHO.

“The Republic of Korea despite being a high-income country that could easily afford to buy vaccines through bilateral deals has waited its turn for vaccines through COVAX,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on March 22.

Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergency expert, also lauded South Korea’s overall efforts to contain the COVID-19 disease.

He said the country not only developed a very successful surveillance and testing regime but exported those tests around the world, kept the disease under control in a very significant way, and have numbers of disease that are “the envy of the world.”

South Korea reported 551 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the country’s total infections to 103,639, with 1,735 deaths.

Despite international plaudits, some like lawmaker Lee said the slow rollout raises doubts about the government’s plan to reach herd immunity this year.

“With just 1.5% of the total 52 million population vaccinated, it is questionable with current supply when we will ever reach the herd immunity.” (Reuters)

Jakarta. Police have arrested 14 persons over their alleged involvement in the murder of a housewife in Jayawijaya district, Papua province.

The 14 persons were arrested near the scene of the murder, chief of the Jayawijaya District Police, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Dominggus Rumaropen, informed on Thursday.

"Last night, (after the murder) I led a team to trace and chase the perpetrators. We arrested the 14 people because when we checked them, they were found carrying sharp weapons," he said.

Police have not identified the perpetrators yet because they only have questioned a child as a witness so far, he explained.

"We have documented the characteristics of the two perpetrators based on the witness’s testimony," he informed.

He asked the relatives of the victim to not stage a rally at the police station since it is the duty of the police to identify and arrest the perpetrators and make them undergo due legal process, in accordance with the law.

"The police have the obligation, without being requested. (Why should) they stage a rally because it is the duty and responsibility of the police. Thank you for your presence to convey aspirations," he remarked. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto and US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J Austin III, discussed the regional security environment as well as bilateral defense cooperation over the phone on Wednesday (March 31, 2021).

According to a statement received from the US Embassy in Jakarta on Thursday, the two ministers discussed the regional security environment, including the challenging situation in the South China Sea, as well as bilateral defense cooperation.

Secretary Austin also emphasized the importance of further developing defense relations between Indonesia and the United States and highlighted the capstone Army-to-Army exercise, Garuda Shield.

"The exercise is scheduled to take place in August (2021) as an opportunity to build greater interoperability between our armed forces," the US Embassy stated.

Minister Subianto also took the opportunity to extend his congratulations to Secretary Austin for his appointment as Secretary of Defense.

Meanwhile, Secretary Austin expressed his condolences on the recent terrorist attacks in Makassar and Jakarta. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. The Indonesian Military (TNI) has stepped up security in public places and around vital national assets, including worship houses, following the attacks on a church in Makassar, South Sulawesi, and the Indonesian Police Headquarters in Jakarta.

"I have ordered all TNI personnel to intensify security, including in churches and other national vital objects. The security increase would be conducted through joint patrols and the establishment of tactical command posts," TNI Commander, Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, said at the TNI Headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta on Thursday.

The TNI and the Indonesian Police have established joint patrol and tactical command posts in some locations, he added.

The move, he said, is in response to President Joko Widodo's orders to not give a place to terrorism in Indonesia.

"President Joko Widodo has ordered me, Indonesian Police chief, Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, head of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), Budi Gunawan, to increase alertness and give the public the confidence and safety to carry out their activities," he informed.

Earlier in the day, Widodo had appealed to people to remain calm following the attack on the National Police Headquarters on Wednesday (March 31, 2021).

On Wednesday afternoon, a woman, identified as Z, reportedly entered the National Police HQ complex and started shooting at security personnel. The gunfight between the armed attacker and officers ended after she was shot. She later succumbed to her injuries. Police have described it as a lone wolf attack, saying Z was a sympathizer of the terrorist group ISIS.

Earlier this week, two suicide bombers, believed to be a married couple, blew themselves up outside the church located on Kajaolalido Road in the Baru neighborhood area of Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, about 10:30 a.m. local time on Sunday.

The two bombers had tried to enter the church compound around the time the Palm Sunday Mass service ended, but security guards had stopped them at the gate.

At least 20 people, including churchgoers and the church's security guards, were injured in the blast.

The suicide bombers, who reportedly belong to a JAD network, carried out the attack using a pressure cooker bomb. (Antaranews)