By: Muhammad Yasin
The government continues to distribute the Covid-19 vaccine to various regions in Indonesia. These efforts continue to be increased in order to pursue vaccination targets and accelerate the formation of collective immunity.
Budi Gunadi Sadikin as Minister of Health said 116.4 million doses of vaccine or 85 percent had been distributed to various regions in Indonesia. Meanwhile, for now, there are 130.3 million stocks of Covid-19 vaccines.
In detail, 116.4 million vaccines have been distributed to regions, including 4.8 million doses of coronavac vaccine, 85.9 million doses of Biofarma vaccine, 1.5 million doses of Pfizer vaccine, 15.9 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, 77.5 million Moderna vaccine doses and 499,886 Sinovac vaccine doses.
Of the 116.4 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, around 91 million doses have been injected. So there are still stocks in the provinces, districts/cities, there are around 25 million doses. Through his press statement. Budi said, if the speed of injecting the vaccine is one million per day, there are still sticks in the area for about 25 days. In addition to 116.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, the government has a number of in-hand stock of Covid-19 vaccine as much as 5.8 million doses which will soon be distributed to regions. The vaccine was last arrived in Indonesia so it cannot be directly distributed.
Before being distributed, vaccines that have just arrived in Indonesia must be given numbers first, repackaged and only takes a few days and then they can be distributed immediately. Furthermore, as many as 8,165,000 doses of vaccine are in the delivery stage and will soon be received by local governments. Thus, in the near future, local governments will receive delivery of more than 13 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine.
Budi also asked local governments not to stock up on Covid-19 vaccines. This request was submitted because there are some regions that inject vaccines half of the total dose received. Budi firmly said, at the direction of President Jokowi, local governments do not need to withhold the vaccine because the delivery for the next dose will be arranged.
For areas experiencing a shortage of vaccine stocks, Budi asked to wait. The distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine from the province to the destination takes time. In fact, the distribution process from the provinces takes one week.
He also appealed to local governments not to worry about the availability of vaccines. He ensured that the central government would distribute a sufficient number of Covid-19 vaccines to regions. For transparency issues, later it will be posted on the website which will show the existing stock in each district/city so that we can know the public can also find out the stock in each district/city.
On a different occasion, the Deputy Chair of the MPR, Jazilul Fawaid, encouraged the government to continue to accelerate the distribution of vaccines to various regions. Vaccination is considered the best step in creating communal immunity or herd immunity as part of efforts to stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to him, in some areas it is still difficult to meet the vaccination needs of their citizens. He gave an example in Gresik Regency, East Java Province, where so far more than 40 percent of the Covid-19 vaccination has been achieved.
He said that in the past many people were afraid to get vaccines. There are those who still question halal or haram, whether vaccines are safe and so on, nowadays people’s trust in taking vaccinations continues to increase.
According to the Deputy Chairperson of the PKB faction, vaccination is the best step to create herd immunity. He said all ranks of PKB from the DPP, DPW, DPC levels, members of the DPR RI, DPRD I and DPRD II continue to provide services and help the community in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jazuli said that today his party was only able to vaccinate 1500 people at three points. Later we will continue to add. Currently we are still having trouble getting vaccine stocks. It continues to be strived to be added so that all people from any group are not picky, so that herd immunity can be created. He hopes that with the vaccination, all people can be healthy and return to their normal activities.
The distribution of vaccines is a concrete step for the government to accelerate herd immunity, of course we need to follow vaccinations as an effort to end the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we must continue to comply with health protocols even though our bodies have received the Covid-19 vaccine.
(The author is a contributor to the Press Circle and Cikini Students)
