Indonesia to widen vaccination scope
Published on: Saturday, February 27, 2021
By: Agencies
A resident gets vaccinated against the Covid-19 coronavirus in Surabaya.
JAKARTA: The Indonesian government is seeking to expand the scope of its Covid-19 vaccination programme to ensure ease of access to the vaccine, especially for senior citizens, the Covid-19 Handling Task Force spokesperson said.“At the moment, vaccination spots for senior citizens are located in a number of major cities and districts. The government will continue to widen the scope in order to ensure that senior citizens can have access to vaccination in reachable areas,” Wiku Adisasmito said during a press conference originating from Jakarta on Thursday.ADVERTISEMENT
The Health Ministry and health facilities will continue to improve vaccination queue systems to ease access to the vaccine for the elderly and prevent crowding at vaccination spots, he elaborated.
The government has begun the second phase of vaccinations for public service workers as well as senior citizens.
The first phase of the vaccination programme prioritised medical workers.
Meanwhile, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin said the government guaranteed the availability of the Covid-19 vaccine as it has exercised diplomacy with several countries in providing sufficient supply for all Indonesian people.ADVERTISEMENT
“Through persistent diplomacy and international cooperation, Indonesia has succeeded in securing the vaccine supply that is sufficient for all our needs,” said Ma’ruf in his statement on Friday.
Referring to World Health Organisation (WHO) data, 130 countries have not yet received the vaccine as of January’s end. Besides, several developed countries have not been able to ensure vaccine availability for their people, said the VP in his closing speech during an international conference on tackling the Covid-19 pandemic on Thursday.
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“130 countries still have no access to vaccines, and most of them are developing countries. So we should be grateful that Indonesia is in a better situation,” Ma’ruf remarked.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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According to him, people have eagerly awaited vaccination since the beginning of the pandemic, considering it would establish herd immunity as protection from the coronavirus disease.
Other than ensuring the availability of vaccines for the public, Ma’ruf Amin stated that Indonesia is committed to being able to export the Covid-19 vaccine to help countries in the Southeast Asian regions.