Jokowi Wants Vaccine Acceleration, Ganjar Pranowo Says Vaccine Stock Constraints Await Center

Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo (ANTARA)

SEMARANG - Central Java Governor, Ganjar Pranowo, said the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination in Central Java was constrained by the stock of vaccines provided by the central government.

"We are actually ready, our infrastructure is not lacking, we just have to wait for the vaccine, and thank God the attention from the Minister of Health is already there, we added it, even the president called me directly for this acceleration", said Ganjar Pranowo in Semarang quoted by Antara, Tuesday, July 27.

Ganjar said that Central Java province would receive an additional 700,000 doses of vaccine from the Ministry of Health this week.

"Yesterday, we received 270 thousand vials of Astrazeneca and 500 thousand vials of Sinovac. That means about 700 thousand more, this is how we speed things up", he said.

Ganjar admitted to requesting additional vaccines from the Ministry of Health every week as many as 2.4 million doses of vaccine. It is ready to accelerate the COVID-19 vaccination.

"My request is 2.4 million (vaccine doses) every week, and we are ready", he said.

According to Ganjar, the enthusiasm of the people of Central Java to participate in the COVID-19 Vaccination Program is very high, so he is optimistic that he can accelerate vaccination.

"If I see the enthusiasm of the community to be vaccinated, it is good in Central Java. So I found this in almost all the places I visited during our visit in a complete of 35 districts/cities", he said.

Previously, during the evaluation of the virtual Emergency Restrictions on Community Activities (PPKM) on Friday, July 16, Jokowi mentioned the issue of vaccination. He wants the vaccination stock to be depleted as soon as possible to achieve herd immunity.

"I ask the minister of health to convey it to the lowest organization, there is no vaccine (hold) stock, send it, send it and spend it. Because we want to pursue a vaccine as soon as possible and it is proven that 2 or 3 days ago we can inject 2.3 million (dose), I am sure that 5 million can be done", said Jokowi.

"Once again, there is no need for stock, the only stock available is at Bio Farma, the others are quickly finished, so there is speed, because one of the keys to solving this problem is the speed of vaccination, according to the WHO Director-General", added Jokowi.