Ridwan Kamil: 180,000 COVID-19 Vaccines Almost Expired

BANDUNG - West Java Governor M Ridwan Kamil revealed that currently there are around 180,000 COVID-19 vaccines that are almost expiring on January 18 to 31.

"Then we in all provinces want to expire on average (vaccines) AstraZeneca and Pfizer. West Java is not as much as the provinces in Java. We only have 180 thousand (the vaccine almost expired)," said Ridwan Kamil at the Sate Bandung building, quoted by Antara, Monday, January 3rd.

He said that so that no expired COVID-19 vaccine was found, the West Java Provincial Government would accelerate vaccination for children aged 6-11 years as a new object.

"If it's too tight, we will give it as a 'booster'. But the booster is only for health workers and the TNI/Polri. This is an additional fortress for those who are tasked with preventing COVID-19 on the front lines," he said.

"So there is no (booster vaccine) for regional head officials and regional officials. But the focus remains on children aged six to 11 years as new objects," continued Ridwan Kamil.

Meanwhile, the achievement of COVID-19 vaccination in West Java as of Monday or early 2022 has reached 77 percent.

This achievement, said Ridwan Kamil, exceeded the target set by the central government.

"Right (the target until) the end of 2021 is 70 percent from the central government, but we are already at 76 percent," he said.

He is optimistic that there will be no expired COVID-19 vaccine in West Java because the speed of vaccination in the region reaches 150 thousand to 200 thousand doses per day.