Indonesia on January 3 started nationwide distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine that was developed by Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech and mass inoculations are scheduled to begin later this month.
Indonesia's Ministry of Health will carry out the distribution in parallel with testing the vaccines made by China's Sinovac (Photo: AFP)
Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia on January 3 started nationwide distribution of the COVID-19vaccine that was developed by Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech and massinoculations are scheduled to begin later this monꦆth.
Indonesian statevaccine producer Bio Farma received 1.2 million doses of the vaccine on December6 and 1.8 million doses on December 31. During a pressbriefing, the company’s COVID-19 vaccination spokesman Bambang Heriyanto saidthat all vaccine cold chain facilities at between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius areready, voicing a hope that it will help ensure the quality of the vaccines. Bambang added thatIndonesia has carried out a number of national vaccination programmes in thepast so infrastructure would not be an issue. Indonesia plans toinoculate 181.5 million people aged 18 and above, or around 67 percent of itsnearly 270 million people, within 15 months. The shots will firstbe given to its 1.3 million health workers. Another 17.4 million front-lineworkers will get vaccinated after and then 21.5 million people aged 60 andolder will get the jab between January and April. In the second phase,scheduled to run from April this year to March 2022, 63.9 million people inhigh-risk areas will get vaccinated, followed by the remaining 77.4 million ofthe targeted population. Indonesia has so farsecured nearly 330 million doses from five different suppliers, including Sinovac,AstraZeneca and Novavax. The world’s fourthmost populous nation has reported 758,473 COVID-19 infections and 22,555 deathsas of January 3./.
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Indonesia's Ministry of Health will carry out the distribution in parallel with testing the vaccines made by China's Sinovac (Photo: AFP) 
