Indonesia Receives Janssen Vaccine Assistance From The Netherlands

JAKARTA - Indonesia received assistance for the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Janssen as many as 324,000 doses from the Dutch government who arrived in the country through the 146th stage of arrival.

"For this visit, the Indonesian government would like to thank the Dutch government," said the Health Ministry's Vaccination Spokesperson, Siti Nadia Tarmizi in a press release quoted by Antara, Friday, December 3.

He explained that the assistance was a continuation of the Dutch assistance to Indonesia. The first Janssen vaccine assistance from the Dutch government came on Saturday, September 11, with a total of 500 thousand doses. The Indonesian government has received 657 thousand doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from the Dutch government.

The Dutch government also donated 819,600 doses of Moderna vaccine on Saturday, October 30 and 680,400 doses on Wednesday, October 10.

He explained that this grant is a tangible manifestation of the good and close relationship between Indonesia and the Netherlands, as well as proof of the commitment of the two countries to work hand in hand in handling COVID-19 in the world.

Nadia said Indonesia has been aggressively voicing equality of access to vaccines since the beginning to protect the world from the threat of COVID 19 which continues to mutate.

"As stated by President Joko Widodo, if there is no equal access to vaccines, it will be very difficult to meet the vaccination targets set by the WHO," he said.

Nadia estimates that there will be almost 80 countries that will not be able to reach 40 percent of the population vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of 2021.

Domestically, he said, Indonesia continues to intensify the national vaccination program to remote villages.

"The central government encourages regions to continue to accelerate and expand vaccination for their citizens. It is also assisted by a number of agencies, such as the TNI and Polri," he said.

In addition to guaranteeing the availability of vaccine stocks, acceleration efforts are also carried out by providing education to the public, especially related to untrue news or hoaxes that are widely circulated.

Nadia said that in some areas, hoaxes played a role in slowing down vaccination. People are made afraid and worried about the exaggerated and exaggerated effects of vaccination.

"Once again, the government confirms that all the COVID-19 vaccines used are safe and efficacious, and have obtained BPOM permission," he said.

On the other hand, said Nadia, increased vigilance was also carried out as cases of the Omicron variant emerged in various countries.

"Increasing vigilance includes increasing the discipline of implementing health protocols and immediately vaccinating whatever type of vaccine is," he said.