Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia received the 201st batch of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine comprising 1,257,750 doses under the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) on Saturday night.
"We, on behalf of the Indonesian government and people, express our great gratitude to COVAX," Director General of Information and Public Communication at the Communication and Informatics Ministry Usman Kamsong said in a press statement received on Sunday.
He said Indonesia has actively established international and multilateral cooperation including through WHO Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator COVAX Facility.
COVAX is a global initiative aimed at ensuring equal access to COVID-19 vaccines.
He said through COVAX, Indonesia has actively campaigned for equal access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries. "Indonesia plays an active role in equalizing access to vaccines for all countries in the world," he said.
The just arrived vaccine will soon be distributed proportionally to regions across Indonesia that need it to implement the national vaccination program, he said.
The government has committed itself to accelerate and expand the vaccination program so that it can be accomplished later this year, he said.
"Therefore, the continued arrival of vaccines is paramount to maintain vaccine stocks so that the vaccination program can run smoothly," he said.
In addition to ensuring the availability of vaccine stocks to accelerate the vaccine program, efforts have also been made to educate the public especially how to deal with hoax news, he said.
In several regions hoax news have slowed down vaccination. Through the hoax news the public were made scared and anxious about the exaggerated effect of vaccination, he informed.
He said the government has ensured that the vaccine is safe and efficacious as the vaccination process is done and supervised tightly. In addition, anticipatory measures have also been prepared in case of post-immunization events (KIPI).
The COVID-19 vaccine is safe and efficacious because it has secured a permit from BPOM (Drug and Food Control Agency). Don't hesitate and delay vaccination merely because of hoax news," he said.
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