Indonesia received another shipment of 1 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine last week, bringing the country’s supply to 2 million total doses. The vaccine shipment was transported by Garuda Indonesia’s freight and cargo service in 24 sealed containers weighing a total of 10,224 kilograms
The Sinopharm vaccine is intended for use in the government’s “Gotong Royong” (mutual cooperation) vaccination scheme, under which private businesses may purchase vaccines from the government for inoculating their employees. The scheme aims to accelerate the pace of Indonesia’s vaccine drive, especially in vaccinating the productive population.
Mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia is among the companies that is organizing a vaccination program for its employees, including employees at its subsidiaries, in Jakarta, Jayapura and Mimika. The company has ordered 75,000 vaccine doses under the Gotong Royong scheme, with 11,000 doses set to arrive this week.
Freeport vice president for government relations Johnny Lingga said the company would be prioritizing employees who had many direct interactions with people on daily basis, such as truck drivers and security guards, as they were at greater risk of contracting the virus.
One day before the Sinopharm vaccine arrived, the government received 1,500,800 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the multilateral COVAX Facility. Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi said the shipment’s arrival was solid proof of the government’s COVID-19 response.
“Securing vaccines amid the global competition is not easy. But the government will continue [with its efforts] and work hard to secure all the vaccines needed,” she told a virtual press briefing on Thursday.
To date, Indonesia has secured 94,728,400 vaccine doses from three manufacturers. China’s Sinovac has been the biggest contributor with 84.5 million doses, followed by AstraZeneca’s 8,228,400 doses via the COVAX Facility, and Sinopharm with 2 million doses.
The three vaccines are on the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) of vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), so their quality, safety and effectiveness are scientifically proven.
According to the latest WHO report, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases around the globe has reached over 175 million, with COVID-19 deaths totaling around 3.8 million. The Southeast Asian region has seen an increasing number by 4.2 percent during last week, with a cumulative tally of more than 4.1 million confirmed cases.