“Thus, we are prioritizing this first while waiting for the shipment that will come and procurement from inside the country. We expect that, by November, everything will return (to normal),” she said.
She then urged people who are keen to travel to take the COVID-19 booster at the Harbor Health Office (KKP) before the departure date.
She asked them to contact the KKP as it stipulates the conditions for immunization. For example, to undertake umroh, people need to take the meningitis vaccination, which is being provided at the KKP, she explained.
According to Yosephine, currently, the available COVID-19 vaccine stock is pegged at around one million doses and it has already been distributed to the regions.
Vaccine stocks are also available at several public health centers (puskesmas), so people can get vaccinated at puskesmas that still have vaccines in stock.
"Not all puskesmas (stock) is empty, but it is not like in the past, in which (the stock) is abundance. Moreover, there are several puskesmas that do not have a stock," she informed.
Related news: Ministry's relocation scheme for tackling booster vaccine shortages
In addition to prioritizing the booster vaccine for travelers, the government is also striving to conduct mapping to relocate vaccine stocks from provinces that have more vaccines to provinces that lack stocks.
On Wednesday, the COVID-19 task force reported that the number of Indonesians who have received the third dose or booster has reached 64,636,490.
The number of people who have received the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine increased by 44,428 on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the number of citizens who have received the first and second doses stood at 205,055,891 and 171,728,936, respectively.
Related news: Ministry urges people to take booster vaccine
Translator: Suci Nurhaliza, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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