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JAKARTA: Indonesia received its first shipment of coronavirus vaccine from China on Sunday (December 6), President Joko Widodo said, as the government prepares a mass inoculation program.
Jokowi, as the president is widely known, said in an online briefing that the country received 1.2 million doses of China’s Sinovac Biotech, a vaccine Indonesia has been testing since August.
READ: Indonesia reserves 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Sinovac
He added that the government plans to receive another 1.8 million doses in early January.
Late-stage trials of the Sinovac vaccine are also underway in Brazil and Turkey, with interim results on Brazil’s efficiency expected by mid-December.
Indonesia is also expected this month to receive shipments of raw materials to produce 15 million doses and materials for 30 million doses next month, the president said.
READ: Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Says Vaccine Cooperation With China Will Not Influence Jakarta’s Position In The South China Sea
The vaccine has yet to be evaluated by the country’s food and drug agency (BPOM) as its administration continues to prepare to distribute the vaccine in the vast archipelago of 270 million people, Jokowi said.
“We have been preparing for months through simulations in various provinces and I am sure that once it is decided that we can start vaccination, everything will be ready,” he said.
The daily number of coronavirus infections in Indonesia has accelerated in recent weeks, with a total of confirmed cases reaching 575,796 on Sunday with 17,740 deaths, the highest in Southeast Asia.
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