Jakarta (ANTARA) - Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), Puan Maharani, has urged the government to ensure the availability of COVID-19 vaccines in regions.

Vaccinations must not stop if the target of achieving herd immunity is to be met, she said.

"People's enthusiasm to be given vaccines in a number of regions should not decrease," she added in a statement issued in Jakarta on Wednesday.

President Joko Widodo's order to local governments to quickly deplete vaccine stocks must be balanced with the rapid procurement of vaccines by the central government, she said.

"There should not be a pause. Vaccination should not be stopped because the vaccine is not available," she added.

The Speaker urged the government to continue to make every effort to secure vaccines.

There have been no more reports of vaccines running out from the regions, she added.

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Regional governments have carried out the President's order to conduct vaccinations, she said.

The COVID-19 Response Task Force reported that 16,451,288 Indonesians had received their second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of 12 p.m. WIB (Western Indonesia Time) on Tuesday.

The number of fully vaccinated Indonesians rose by 50,937 compared to the previous day. However, the figure fell short of the number of Indonesians receiving their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

As of Tuesday, the number of Indonesians receiving the first COVID-19 vaccine jab reached 42,344,675, an increase of 249,144 from the previous day.

Indonesia kicked off a mass vaccination drive on January 13, 2021, with President Joko Widodo becoming the first Indonesian to receive the COVID-19 vaccine jab.

The government has stepped up efforts to accelerate the vaccination of citizens to build herd immunity against the virus and to put an end to the pandemic. The government has set a target of inoculating 40,349,049 people in the first and second phases of the national vaccination program.

Overall, the government is seeking to vaccinate 181.5 million citizens, or 70 percent of the country's population.



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Translator: Imam B, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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