Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesiareceived the third bulk of COVID-19 vaccine by Chinese manufacturer SinovacBiotech one day prior to the start of the national vaccination campaign.
The batch of 15 million doses wastransferred to the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta's westernoutskirts on January 12.
Indonesian earlier received 1.2 milliondoses of the vaccine on December 6, 2020 and 1.8 million doses on December 31 fromSinovac Biotech.
Head of the country’s COVID-19 Task ForceDoni Monardo called on the public to strictly observe health regulationsdespite the upcoming vaccination programme.
The Southeast Asian nation witnessed asurge in infection number in the past two months. Official data showed thatabout 123,000 patients are being treated, twice of the 54,000 recorded in lastNovember.
The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) gaveSinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine the emergency use authorisation (EUA) onJanuary 11, following data stating it is 65.3 percent effective.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo is set to bethe first to get the shot in a live broadcast ceremony. Afterwards, prioritywill be given to 1.3 million health workers in the first phase.
On January 11, the country decided toextend the ban of foreigners’ entry for another two weeks to January 28 amidstthe continued spread of COVID-19. It first imposed the ban after the appearanceof new variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the country./.