The government is deploying various efforts to accelerate vaccinations
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia has sufficient COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate 77 percent of the country's total population and build herd immunity, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has said.

"The government is deploying various efforts to accelerate vaccinations. The (number of) vaccines itself is sufficient enough to vaccinate 77 percent (of the population)," he noted while reviewing the Healthy Synergy Vaccination Center at the Media Hotel and Tower, Central Jakarta on Tuesday.

Although the number of COVID-19 vaccines has been confirmed to be sufficient, the vaccination process is taking time because it is not possible to rely solely on personnel from the health office of each region to carry out vaccinations, Amin explained.

Therefore, the government has involved the TNI, police, the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), and various organizations to accelerate COVID-19 vaccinations in the community.

"The government has mobilized the health office, the TNI, Police, the BKKBN and is being also assisted by various groups, such as educational institutions," he informed.

He said the government is supporting the acceleration of COVID-19 vaccinations so that community or herd immunity can be achieved quickly in Indonesia.

"The government wants to speed up the vaccination process, especially for the first and second (dose), to pursue herd immunity. We want everyone to be vaccinated by the end of 2021, so we can get herd immunity," he remarked.

Based on data from the Ministry of Health, the government has received 169 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of September 12, 2021, out of which 157 million doses have been distributed to regions, 9 million doses are currently being distributed, and another 3 million doses are being stored as national reserves.

"Of the 157 million doses that have been sent to the regions, 116 million doses have been injected. So there are 41 million doses (remaining) spread in regions," Health Minister Budi Sadikin said.

The central government has urged local governments to administer the COVID-19 vaccines immediately, he added.

"Under the direction of the President, it is requested that (the remaining) 41 million doses of the vaccine that have been spread across provinces, districts, and cities be injected immediately; 41 million doses is a very large number," he remarked.

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Translator: Fransiska N, Raka Adji
Editor: Sri Haryati
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