Total 185 Million Doses Of Vaccine Received By Indonesia Amid Supply Scarcity

ILLUSTRATION/Setneg

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government has now secured and received 185 million doses of vaccine, both in the form of ready-made vaccines and bulk vaccines.

In the current situation of scarce vaccine supply, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said it is not easy to secure vaccine supply. Her party continues to work to secure doses for Indonesia so that it can actually meet the needs of the community.

"Of course, Indonesian diplomacy works day and night to secure vaccines for the Indonesian people through bilateral and multilateral channels," said the Foreign Minister, quoted by Antara, Saturday, August 14.

The Foreign Minister explained that the Indonesian government continues to accelerate vaccination and impose restrictions on community mobility to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Regarding the acceleration of vaccination, the Foreign Minister said that so far Indonesia has injected more than 80 million doses of vaccine, or equivalent to giving vaccines to 28.6 percent of the total population in Indonesia.

"Indonesia is listed as the 10th largest country that has injected more than 80 million doses of vaccine," explained the Foreign Minister.

In addition, Retno highlighted the level of vaccine distribution which is still relatively wide, namely that vaccination ownership is still centered on developed countries.

"We see WHO data that an average of 104 vaccine doses are given per 100 people in developed countries, which means more than the total population, while 29 low-income countries only have two vaccine doses per 100 people," he said.

In addition, he said, in North America and Europe the vaccines given reached 87.12 percent and 91.21 percent of the total population, while in Africa it was only 5.46 percent, and in ASEAN 27.97 percent.

"If this inequality continues, is not addressed, then we will find it difficult to imagine this pandemic will end soon," he added.

Therefore, Retno said, equal access to vaccines continues to be voiced for all countries in the world, especially for developing countries, through the role of the Minister of Foreign Affairs as one of the Co-Chairs of the COVAX AMC Engagement Group, together with the Minister of Health of Ethiopia and the Minister of National Development of Canada.