Indonesia is ready to roll out a ground-breaking vaccination programme, according to plans announced yesterday by the country’s health minister. Budi Gunadi Sadikin informed the press on Tuesday (29/12) that the Government has secured multiple doses of several different Covid-19 vaccines, with more to come in the months ahead. The first phase of inoculations is scheduled to begin in January and will be completed by April 2021.
“We will start the shots in January,” confirmed Indonesia’s president Joko (‘Jokowi’) Widodo in a statement last Friday (25/12). “In our prediction, we may return to normal next year.” The president added that the first phase of the vaccination programme is expected to reach around 70 per cent of the Indonesian population – approximately 182 million people.
According to Jokowi’s health minister, Indonesia’s 1.3 million front-line health workers will be first to receive the vaccines in January, along with the nation’s military, police and emergency services. As he explained during this week’s news conference: “They are the most important group of people in our battle against the pandemic.”
The second round of vaccinations will focus first on public servants, followed by residents living in designated ‘red zones’ who are aged between 18 and 59. The overall strategy is to sure up the nation’s defences against the virus, and keep its infrastructure operational.
Indonesia has secured a total of around 329 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from China, the USA and the UK. This includes about 125 million doses from Sinovac, 50 million from Novavax and 54 million from global vaccine programme COVAX.
Indonesia’s Food and Drug Agency is expected to approve a third drug, pending completion of phase 3 trials in January. A deal for around 50 million additional shots has been agreed with AstraZeneca, which is set to become available in the second quarter of 2021. A similarly large shipment is expected from Pfizer halfway through the year.
According to the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a total of 2.2 billion doses of the vaccine will become available worldwide in 2021. Mass production continues at pace, with as many as 3.76 billion future doses already reserved. With so many doses secured and a nationwide vaccination programme ready to roll, it is hoped that the Indonesian President’s prediction will come to pass, and Indonesian tourism can ‘return to normal’ soon.
