The vaccine doses that will expire have been registered. We are waiting for the West Java Provincial Health Office to take them back through Bio Farma.
Bekasi, W Java (ANTARA) - Over 21 thousand doses of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine will expire in West Java's Bekasi district in early August this year, the local health office has informed.

Sinovac vaccine stocks at the local pharmaceutical warehouse have currently reached 21,824 doses and are set to expire on August 1, chief of the Pharmacy Regional Technical Implementation Unit (UPTD) of the Bekasi District Health Office, Bayu Biharussyfa, disclosed on Tuesday.

He said he believes that the China-made COVID-19 vaccine can no longer be used.

He said he has contacted the West Java Provincial Health Office to send the vaccines to state-owned vaccine manufacturer Bio Farma before they expire on August 1.

"The vaccine doses that will expire have been registered. We are waiting for the West Java Provincial Health Office to take them back through Bio Farma," he added.

Besides the Sinovac vaccine, 36,820 doses of the Corovax vaccine will expire on July 31 and 3,330 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will expire on August 12.

The government is targeting to inoculate as many as 208,265,720 citizens across the country.

The COVID-19 Handling Task Force has reported that at least 53.89 million Indonesians have received the third or booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of July 22.

Meanwhile, the number of second dose recipients has reached 169,719,432 and the number of people who have taken at least the first dose has touched 202,103,683.

As part of efforts to boost community immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government initiated a vaccination program across Indonesia on January 13, 2021.

The first case of COVID-19 in Indonesia was confirmed in March 2020. According to data from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, as of July 22, 2022, the nation has recorded 6,159,328 COVID-19 cases, 5,964,196 recoveries, and 156,893 deaths.

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Translator: Pradita KS, Suharto
Editor: Sri Haryati
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