MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th December, 2020) Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has said that the government is planning to purchase at least 426 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine next year, to vaccinate 181 million of the country's 267 million citizens with the goal of establishing herd immunity in the country, the Jakarta Globe newspaper reported on Tuesday.
"There are 188 million citizens of the age of 18 years and above. If we exclude those with serious comorbidity, pregnant mothers and Covid-19 survivors, the number will be reduced to 181 million," Sadikin said as quoted by the media.
The minister stressed that the country had to adhere to the rules established by the World Health Organization that obliged governments to purchase extra 15 percent of COVID-19 vaccines, stressing that Indonesia would need at least 426 million doses, since each person required two doses.
"This is a very huge number and the government is working hard to make sure we can secure supplies of that amount," Sadikin said.
The minister noted that Indonesia has reserved 125 million doses of China's Sinovac vaccine and reached an agreement with US-based Novavax company to procure 130 million doses of its vaccine.
Sadikin added that the Indonesian government was also seeking to acquire 100 million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. Furthermore, Jakarta was negotiating with US-based Pfizer and German BioNTech to buy 50 million doses of their vaccine.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Indonesia has confirmed 5,854 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, with the total number of reported cases at 719,219. The country registered 47,441 new COVID-19 infections over the past week.
