VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

UN Security Council to debate challenge of COVID-19 vaccine access - UN News 

At the initiative of Britain, which boasts of having an effective vaccination programme, the UN Security Council on Wednesday (Feb 17) will debate the problem of global access to COVID-19 vaccines, raising issues likely to underscore sharp differences between council members.

The Security Council, with a mission of maintaining peace and security around the world, has no special health expertise, the ambassador noted, adding, "the Security Council can just have a contribution".

He added that no resolution on the matter is likely to come this week.

The Security Council's only direct involvement in the pandemic came in July 2020 when, after long and difficult negotiations to resolve sharp US-Chinese tensions, it passed a resolution encouraging cease-fires in countries in conflict in order to limit the spread of Covid-19.

Britain recently shared with a few other countries a draft resolution on vaccine management, diplomats said.

"There is a draft resolution," one said. "The negotiations have just started. It will take some time."

Vaccination "is the big challenge now", said Olof Skoog, the European Union ambassador to the council. "A long way to go before people are fully vaccinated."

Skoog, who is Swedish, noted that the EU has contributed to creating the global Covax initiative which, under UN auspices, aims to provide at least two billion doses by the end of the year, including at least 1.3 billion doses to 92 lower-income countries//CNA

With Republican firewall, US Senate acquits Trump of inciting deadly Capitol riot - NDTV.com

The US Senate acquitted Donald Trump on Saturday (Feb 13) of inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol last month, sparing him from conviction in his second impeachment trial in a year despite broad condemnation of his role in sparking the deadly siege. 

The Senate voted 57-43 in favour of convicting the former president, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to do so, on a charge that he incited the insurrection that left five people dead, forced lawmakers to flee, and put his own vice president in danger while overseeing the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's election win. 

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who voted "not guilty" in the trial, offered scathing remarks about Trump after the verdict.

"There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day," he said. "The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president."President Joe Biden said that while the vote did not lead to a conviction, the substance of the charge was not in dispute, and a record number of Republicans had voted to convict Trump."This sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile," Biden said in a statement. "That it must always be defended. That we must be ever vigilant. That violence and extremism has no place in America. And that each of us has a duty and responsibility as Americans, and especially as leaders, to defend the truth and to defeat the lies."In the vote, seven of the 50 Senate Republicans joined the chamber's unified Democrats in favouring conviction after a week-long trial in the same building ransacked by Trump's followers after they heard him deliver an incendiary speech on Jan 6.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Republicans' refusal to hold Trump accountable would be remembered "as one of the darkest days and most dishonourable acts in our nation's history".

The swift end to the trial allows Biden to move forward with his agenda to bolster the economy with a US$1.9 trillion pandemic relief Bill and further confirmation of his Cabinet members.

But divisions on Capitol Hill and around the country over his controversial predecessor will remain//CNA

Immunization target hinges on availability of vaccine stocks - iNews.id

The government’s plan of vaccinating 181.5 million Indonesians against the coronavirus hinges on the availability of vaccines, spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Prof. Wiku Adisasmito, said.

"As we know, the vaccine stocks are limited and all (vaccine producers) are trying to speed up production," he said during an online discussion originating here on Saturday.

In addition to limited vaccine stocks, a mutation of the virus could also pose a threat to the administration of COVID-19 vaccines to the people in the country, he observed.

The number of people to be vaccinated is not in proportion to the availability of vaccines, he pointed out. Consequently, all countries, including Indonesia, are competing with one another to get vaccines from suppliers, he said.All sides can plan to vaccinate one million people per day, but they will find it difficult to realize the plan, he added.

"Certain Indonesian regions, including Jakarta, can achieve the target of vaccinating one million people in a day. But other regions will have difficulties achieving the target due to geographical constraints," he said.

Hence, the vaccination program may last longer or be faster than expected, he said.

To speed up the vaccination program, the current vaccine stocks need to suffice for 181.5 million Indonesians, he pointed out.The government has set a target of inoculating 181,554,464 people, or 70 percent of the total Indonesian population, with the aim of building herd immunity against the coronavirus.

So far, 1,017,186 Indonesian healthcare workers out of the targeted 1,468,764 have received COVID-19 vaccine shots, according to data provided by the COVID-19 Handling Task Force on February 11, 2021.

Of the 1,017,186 healthcare workers who have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 345,605 have been administered their second dose, too, it stated.Each person covered by the vaccine program will require to be administered two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. This means that Indonesia will need 362 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to inoculate 181 million people.

Up until now, Indonesia has received 28 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine from Sinovac.

Meanwhile, it has ordered COVID-19 vaccines from various sources: 125 million doses from China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd; 100 million doses from US-Canada's Novavax; 100 million doses from British AstraZeneca; 100 million doses from Germany-US Pfizer vaccine; and, 16-100 million doses of free vaccines from the GAVI COVAX Facility, as part of a multilateral cooperation coordinated by the WHO.In addition, the nation is also developing its indigenous vaccine, named Red and White after the national flag//ANT

Health Ministry spokesperson for the COVID-19 vaccination program, Siti Nadia Tarmizi. (ANTARA/HO)

The Indonesian Health Ministry disclosed that the spatial clustering of COVID-19 vaccination that President Joko Widodo recently directed would be carried out by prioritizing residents in high-risk areas.

"So, we are considering the high-risk spatial clusters," the Health Ministry's spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination Program, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, told ANTARA in Jakarta on Saturday.

Tarmizi emphasized that not all areas in a province would be covered by the spatial clustering exercise as health workers would solely focus on those at the highest risk of contracting a coronavirus infection.

In a province with 19 districts/cities, for instance, if there are only three administrative areas that are at the highest risk for COVID-19, the zone-based vaccination program will be directed only at the three districts/cities, she explained.

Residents in red zones (with severe infection risk) would automatically be prioritized to get vaccine jabs, Tarmizi said, adding that a final decision on the standard operating procedure for the zone-based vaccination program is yet to be made.President Joko Widodo had said earlier that spatial clustering of COVID-19 vaccinations should be carried out to create “immediate” herd immunity in the country.

The Indonesian government has been battling the global pandemic since announcing the country's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.

It has not only enforced restrictions on public activity in the Java and Bali Islands since January 11, 2021, but has also been conducting a nationwide vaccination program since January 13, 2021.

On January 26, 2021, Indonesia's COVID-19 cases crossed the one-million mark.

To reduce the country's COVID-19 infection rate, the Health Ministry has roped in the National Police and the Indonesian Defence Forces (TNI) to carry out vaccinations and contact-tracing at the grassroots level.The National Police has been preparing 13,500 personnel from its health service division as vaccinators and 40,336 others as contact-tracers to support the national vaccination and contact-tracing program.

"Nine hundred of the 13,500 personnel have been trained to be vaccinators, while 12,600 others will receive the same training in the near future," National Police chief, Gen.Listyo Sigit Prabowo, said on February 11, 2021.

In addition, 40,336 police officers have been prepared for supporting the government's contact-tracing efforts at the grassroots level across the country to track down and find people potentially transmitting or infected with the disease.

"Some 40,336 police officers have been prepared as contact-tracers," he said while instructing police officers in the country to escort and secure 19.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines that have so far been distributed to health offices.Prabowo also instructed his men to work closely with their counterparts from the Indonesian Defence Forces (TNI) and health workers to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission//ANT