Jakarta (ANTARA) - Vaccination is crucial to the successful handling of COVID-19 in Indonesia, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin noted in his opening remarks at a mass vaccination event for residents of South Tangerang.

"The key to successful handling of the COVID-19 pandemic relies on many factors, one of which is the vaccination program that plays a vital and very important role," the vice president noted in his virtual address delivered from his official residence here on Wednesday.

Amin called on the community to partake in COVID-19 vaccination, so that the nation can attain herd immunity in the near future.

The acceleration of COVID-19 vaccination activities, being promoted by the Government, are focused on lowering the transmission rate and is supported by the strict application of health protocols by the public, he stated.

"We are faced with a situation that requires all parties to work hand-in-hand to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic by always implementing health protocols and accelerating vaccinations to suppress the spread of the coronavirus disease," he remarked.

Amin stressed on the importance of all stakeholders of the nation, including NGOs across the country, supporting the vaccination program.

"Thus, we can speed up the administration of one to two million vaccine jabs per day and soon realize herd immunity in Indonesia," he stated.

Indonesia has lately borne witness to a record spike in COVID cases, reaching over 20 thousand daily and some 400 deaths per day.

On Wednesday, the country saw the addition of 20,467 new cases within the last 24 hours, thereby bringing the tally to 2,156,465 since the government announced its first COVID-19 cases on March 2, 2020.

As of June 29, 2021, over 13,3 million Indonesians were fully vaccinated mostly by administering the Chinese Sinovac's CoronaVac vaccine since the government launched the national vaccination program on January 13, 2021.

The government has prioritized healthcare workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine jabs. As of June 27 this year, a total of 405 doctors had succumbed to COVID-19. Related news: Vice President Amin visits Banten to observe COVID-19 vaccination
Related news: VP Amin observes COVID-19 vaccination in Lampung


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Editor: Suharto
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