President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo hopes the COVID-19 national vaccination program will begin in January 2021.
“Insya Allah [God willing], we will start the scenes in January. In our forecast, we may return to normal next year. Let’s all pray together until we return to normal soon, ”said Jokowi as he gave presidential support at the Bogor Presidential Palace in West Java on Friday, as reported by kompas.id.
He went on to say that the vaccination program aimed to reach 70 percent of Indonesia’s population – or about 182 million people. It is believed that vaccination of that proportion of the population would ensure herd immunity.
At present, there are only enough vaccines in the country for 600,000 recipients. The Food and Drug Administration (BPOM) is examining additional candidates’ vaccines to see if emergency use should be allowed.
“I will be vaccinated first to show that it is OK,” the President said.
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Jokowi reminded the public that the vaccination program would take some time due to the country’s large population. He said the program would be done in stages, starting with health workers, members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police (Polri) before it reached the masses.
The President confirmed that any future vaccination would be approved by the BPOM and declared halal by the Ulema Council of Indonesia (MUI). Vaccination, he said, would be free for all Indians.
Separately, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said in a substantive debate at the Kompas Cooperation Forum (KCF) on Friday that the government was still working on providing adequate vaccines to all Indians.
According to the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be available in 2021. Up to 3.76 billion future doses of vaccine have been retained by less than 50 countries, including Indonesia.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical company Kalbe Farma CEO Vidjongtius said Indonesia’s geography would be a challenge in the national vaccination program as an island state.
“Good quality vaccines equate to good quality vaccine distribution. We do not want the quality of vaccines to ever decline as a result of poor circulatory treatment, ”he said.
Read also: China to start vaccination in early 2021
Indonesia has the capacity to store vaccines at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine should be kept at a negative 70 degrees Celsius.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Saturday that it was monitoring reports of an allergic reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine and had made recommendations on how people with history of allergies going forward, Reuters reported.
Anyone who has been adversely affected by the COVID-19 vaccine should not receive a second dose, the group said, explaining explicitly how epinephrine administration or hospital treatment is required.
People who have experienced an allergic reaction to any ingredient in the COVID-19 vaccine should avoid vaccine formulas that contain the ingredient, the CDC said. Two vaccines have been approved for emergency use in the United States.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating some five allergic reactions that occurred after people received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in the United States this week. (nkn)
Editor’s note: This article is part of a public campaign by COVID-19 action group to raise awareness of pandemic.