Jakarta (ANTARA) - Spokesperson for COVID-19 Vaccination at the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, has projected the supply of vaccines in the country to continue to increase until the fourth quarter of 2021.

"This vaccine supply will continue to increase in October, November, and December 2021, up to 80 million doses," Tarmizi stated during a virtual dialog monitored from Jakarta, Tuesday evening.

To date, Tarmizi confirmed that Indonesia had received a total of 151.9 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. On Tuesday afternoon, 21.2 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine were received.

"This quantity is the largest shipment that Indonesia has ever received. Earlier, it was approximately 10 to 13 million doses from Sinovac," she pointed out.

The spokesperson noted that the vaccines will be administered in August 2021 to increase the dosage of vaccines injected to beneficiaries.

In July 2021, Tarmizi spoke of Indonesia having received a total of 54 million vaccine doses comprising 39.2 million doses of Sinovac in bulk, 6.7 million doses of Astrazeneca, four million doses of Sinopharm, and 4.5 million doses of Moderna.

"In August, approximately 60 million doses will be received, 60 million doses in September, and around 80 million doses in October, November, and December," the spokesperson noted.

Related news: Six million doses of Sinovac's bulk vaccine arrived in Indonesia

Tarmizi said the total vaccines in semi-finished and finished forms will be processed to produce 151.9 million additional vaccine doses.

"All new vaccine requirements can be met when all of them are sent by vaccine manufacturers until December 2021. Thus, indeed, we must conduct this vaccination in a priority and gradual manner, considering the arrival of the vaccines that is also gradual," she pointed out.

The spokesperson highlighted reports of vaccine supplies running low in several regions in the past week due to limited national vaccine stocks.

"This is because 151.9 million vaccine doses were received. It is actually still approximately 30 percent of the total vaccine requirements in Indonesia reaching 462 million doses," she pointed out.

As of Monday (July 26), Tarmizi noted that a total of 63 million Indonesians have received vaccinations, out of which 45 million were given the first dose and around 18 million people received the second dose.

The spokesperson noted that the current COVID-19 vaccination target was set at 208.2 million people. This figure increased from the initial target of 181.5 million people after the inclusion of those from the 12- to 17-year age group.

Related news: Over 16.45 million Indonesians fully vaccinated against COVID-19

Translator: Andi F, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Suharto
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