"In all provinces, those (vaccines) that are close to the expiry date are mainly AstraZeneca and Pfizer. In West Java, the amount (of vaccines nearing expiry) is not as much as in other provinces in Java. We only have around 180 thousand (vaccines that are close to the expiry date)," he said here on Monday.
To keep the vaccines from expiring, the West Java provincial government will accelerate vaccinations for children aged 6–11 years, he informed.
"If it (the vaccine stock) is too close (to the expiry date), we will administer it as a booster. However, the booster is only for health workers and personnel of the Indonesian military (TNI) and the National Police (Polri). This (booster) is additional protection for those who are tasked with preventing COVID-19 on the frontlines," he expounded.
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"Therefore, there is no booster vaccine for regional heads and officials," the governor said.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 vaccination coverage in West Java as of Monday or early 2022 has reached 77 percent, he noted.
He said the vaccine achievement has exceeded the target set by the central government, which is vaccinating 70 percent population by the end of 2021.
The governor expressed the hope that there would be no expired COVID-19 vaccine stocks in West Java because the pace of vaccinations in the province has reached 150 thousand to 200 thousand doses per day.
The Indonesian government launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021, in a bid to boost immunity against COVID-19.
According to data provided by the Health Ministry, as of January 3, 2021, nearly 166,335,010 citizens have received their first COVID-19 jab, while 114,297,328 have been fully vaccinated against the virus.
Related news: Some 21 million Indonesians will receive booster vaccine: minister
Translator: Ajat Sudrajat, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
