JAKARTA - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated that the Astrazeneca and Pfizer brand vaccines, which are now more widely used in Indonesia, are safe to use as the supply of Sinovac vaccines begins to run low.
"These two vaccines are equally safe, have higher efficacy. But because they are new, people are still hesitant to use them," Budi said at a press conference regarding the development of the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Indonesia, quoted by Antara, Monday, November 22.
Minister of Health Budi urged all people who have not been vaccinated, especially the elderly, to remain willing and comfortable using any vaccine in order to achieve the target of vaccination coverage as a condition for forming group immunity against COVID-19.
"There is indeed a fever, but don't worry, these vaccines have been proven safe, don't hesitate to get vaccinated immediately. Don't let what happened in Europe happen in Indonesia," he said.
Budi explained that at this time there was also a decline in the vaccination rate from 2 million injections per day to below it. This, said Budi, was caused by the declining supply of Sinovac vaccines.
Currently, Indonesia has 287 million doses of vaccine stock. A total of 273 million doses have been sent to various regions, and as many as 225 million doses have been injected so that the remaining 50 million doses. Budi explained that the remaining stock is still sufficient for vaccination for the next month.
Budi also reported that currently Indonesia receives more vaccine donations from abroad due to excess production in developed countries.
"We are now receiving more donated vaccines from abroad because there are too many vaccines produced in developed countries for their own use. And we receive most of the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna," said Budi.
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