A woman gets inoculated against COVID-19 in Jakarta, Indonesia, on August 17 (Photo: Xinhua/VNA) The Indonesian Government’s spokeswoman for COVID-19, Reisa Broto Asmoro, told a virtual press meeting on August 18 that the country’s vaccination programme aims to inject 50 million vaccine doses in seven weeks, starting late August.
She said this target is completely achievable since Indonesia is owning more than 190 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, and the Government has committed to administering about 425 million doses to 208.2 million people aged 12 and above.
Indonesia has licensed the use of the COVID-19 vaccines of Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax. For the Gotong Royong vaccination programme, funded mainly by the private sector, only the vaccine of Sinopharm has been authorised.
As of August 18, more than 55.19 million people in the country received the first jabs, equivalent to 26.5 percent of the Government’s target, and over 29.4 million got fully vaccinated with two shots, 14.12 percent, according to the Indonesian Ministry of Health.
In the Philippines, this country is allotting 45.3 billion pesos (899 million USD) under its 2022 budget for COVID-19 booster shots, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said.
The move is made even as health authorities have yet to conclude there is a need for a third dose. It is unclear how many doses of vaccine the budget can cover.
The Philippines has approved the emergency use of eight brands, including those of Pfizer and Moderna.
It has fully vaccinated nearly 13 million people, or 11.7 percent of the total population of 110 million./.
VNA
