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HEALTH-VIRUS-INDONESIA-VACCINES
Indonesia leader gets nation’s first coronavirus jab
JAKARTA, Jan 13, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo received
the country’s first Covid-19 jab Wednesday, as the sprawling archipelago of
nearly 270 million kicked off a mass vaccination drive to clamp down on
soaring case rates.
In a procedure broadcast live on television, the 59-year-old leader, better
known as Jokowi, was inoculated at the state palace in Jakarta along with his
health minister and several senior officials, as well as business and
religious leaders.
“I don’t feel it at all,” he said with a laugh after receiving the
injection, the first of two required. He will get the second at a later date.
This week, domestic regulators approved a Covid-19 vaccine produced by
China’s Sinovac, announcing that its efficacy stood at a relatively low 65.3
percent, according to tests performed in Indonesia.
The Muslim-majority nation’s top religious body also approved the vaccine
as halal — meaning permissible under Islam — in a move that could help
convince wary citizens.
Previous vaccination drives have met resistance among some segments of the
country’s huge population, the world’s fourth largest.
“This vaccination is important to break the chain of coronavirus infections
and to give health protection to all of us, and safety and security for all
Indonesians,” Jokowi told reporters, adding that it would “also help speed up
the economic recovery”.
Health workers and other at-risk groups will get priority under an
ambitious plan to inoculate nearly 182 million people over the next 15
months.
The Southeast Asian nation has already signed deals for nearly 330 million
vaccine doses from a string of pharmaceutical companies including UK-based
AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Chinese suppliers including Sinopharm.
It has reported nearly 850,000 Covid-19 cases and close to 25,000 deaths,
but low testing rates mean the public health crisis is believed to be much
bigger than the figures suggest.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1049 hrs