Accompanied by several top brass of the Indonesian navy and army, Koarmada III Commander, Rear Admiral Irvansyah, reviewed the vaccination drive for residents aged 18 and above.
Koarmada III initiated the drive for administering the first vaccine dose to Sorong residents following the Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff's order to help the nation achieve the target of one million vaccinations per day, Irvansyah said.
Similar mass vaccinations were simultaneously organized in coastal areas across the archipelago on Tuesday, he added.
The targeted residents in Sorong City participated enthusiastically in the program, he said.
"Those on the islands also showed their willingness to get vaccinated," he added.
The organizing committee had set a target of administering the first vaccine dose to one thousand people on Tuesday, he informed.
"If they all cannot have been served today, the vaccination drive will be continued tomorrow," Irvansyah said.
In the future, Koarmada III will collaborate with other agencies to serve residents who are keen to get vaccinated, he added.
The COVID-19 pandemic initially hit the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019 and subsequently spread across the globe, including to nations in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Indonesian government announced the nation's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.
Since then, the central and regional governments have striven incessantly to flatten the nation's coronavirus curve by applying healthcare protocols. Emergency public activity restrictions have also been imposed on the islands of Java and Bali from July 3 - July 20, 2021.
As part of efforts to win the fight against COVID-19, the Indonesian government has been conducting a nationwide vaccination program to contain infections since January 13, 2021.
Indonesia recently received 10 million doses of bulk vaccines from China's Sinovac.
As of June 20, 2021, the nation has received 104,728,400 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, comprising 94.5 million Sinovac vaccines, 8.228 million AstraZeneca vaccines, and two million Sinopharm vaccines.
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Translator: Ernes BK, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
