Indonesia Brings 2 Million 700 Doses Of Pfizer Vaccine

JAKARTA - Indonesia has brought in 2,000,700 doses of Pfizer vaccine in finished form and will be directly distributed to 12 provinces.

"The purchase of this vaccine is to maintain vaccine stocks in the country. Currently, the vaccines received by Indonesia are 280,527,920 vaccines, both in the form of raw materials and ready-made vaccines," said Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, dr. Siti Nadia Tarmizi quoted by Antara, Sunday, October 10.

He said the 87th batch of vaccines arrived through two airports, namely Soekarno-Hatta and Juanda, East Java.

Vaccines through Soekarno-Hatta Airport will be distributed to the Riau Islands Health Office (Dinkes), Jambi Health Office, Bengkulu Health Office, Riau Health Office, North Sumatra Health Office, Aceh Health Office, East Nusa Tenggara Health Office, South Kalimantan Health Office, West Nusa Tenggara Health Office, Gorontalo Health Office, and the West Java Health Office.

The vaccine through Juanda Airport will be distributed to the East Java Health Office.

The government continues to optimize the acceleration of vaccine dissemination to all regions in Indonesia, so that it can reach the remote and outermost communities.

"The government continues to work hard in securing vaccine stocks and accelerating their distribution throughout Indonesia, including distribution sent directly to the provinces to shorten the distribution chain and accelerate access and even distribution of various types/brands of vaccines for the entire community," said Nadia.

The government invites all people to be vaccinated immediately, there is no need to be picky about vaccines, because all vaccines are safe and efficacious.

Along with efforts to accelerate vaccination, Nadia reminded the public to remain disciplined in implementing health protocols.

"Because vaccines are not the only shield to protect against COVID-19 when we carry out activities in public spaces," he said.

The government continues to encourage local governments, especially those with low vaccination achievements, to accelerate and expand vaccination programs, especially for vulnerable groups such as the elderly.

According to Nadia, there are still some areas with low coverage for both dose one and dose two vaccinations for the elderly, such as in West Sumatra, Aceh, Papua, and North Maluku.

"I hope that strategies can be drawn up according to the specific problems or barriers in each region to increase coverage for this vulnerable group based on the availability of vaccines in their respective regions," he said.