Indonesia on January 3 started nationwide distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine that was developed by Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech and mass inoculations are scheduled to begin later this month.
Indonesia's Ministry of Health will carry out the distribution in parallel with testing the vaccines made by China's Sinovac (Photo: AFP)
Jakarta (VNA) –😼 Indonesia on January 3 started nationwide distribution of the COVID-19vaccine that was developed by Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech and massinoculations are scheduled to begin later this month.
Indonesian statevaccine producer Bio Farma received 1.2 million doses of the vaccine on December6 and 1.8 million doses on December 31. During a pressbriefing, the company’s COVID-19 vaccination spokesman Bambang Heriyanto saidthat all vaccine cold chain facilities at between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius areready, voicing a hope that it will help ensure the quality of the vaccines. Bambang added thatIndonesia has carried out a number of national vaccination programmes in thepast so infrastructure would not be an issue. Indonesia plans toinoculate 181.5 million people aged 18 and above, or around 67 percent of itsnearly 270 million people, within 15 months. The shots will firstbe given to its 1.3 million health workers. Another 17.4 million front-lineworkers will get vaccinated after and then 21.5 million people aged 60 andolder will get the jab between January and April. In the second phase,scheduled to run from April this year to March 2022, 63.9 million people inhigh-risk areas will get vaccinated, followed by the remaining 77.4 million ofthe targeted population. Indonesia has so farsecured nearly 330 million doses from five different suppliers, including Sinovac,AstraZeneca and Novavax. The world’s fourthmost populous nation has reported 758,473 COVID-19 infections and 22,555 deathsas of January 3./.
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ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn reaffirmed ASEAN leaders' commitment to empowering the youth to unleash their full potential when he had a dialogue with ASEAN youth in Hanoi on April 22 on the sidelines of the ASEAN Future Forum (AF 2024).
The Thai Government is being urged to increase the proportion of renewable power generation to more than the target of 50% set in the power development plan (PDP).
The Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) of Indonesia on April 21 lifted its tsunami advisory issued previously following the eruption of Mount Ruang in Sitaro district of North Sulawesi province.
Thailand expects to export about 1 million tonnes of durian, valued at an estimated 130 billion THB (3.53 billion USD) this year, with most of the shipments to China, according to Minister of Agriculture Thammanat Prompao.
The 72nd meeting of the ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC) and related meetings are being held by the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of Vietnam in the central city of Da Nang on April 22-26.
Enhancing regional food security and tackling the pressing challenges of climate change will be key agendas defining Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2025, Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat (lower house) Johari Abdul told the press on April 19.
Indonesia's Ministry of Health will carry out the distribution in parallel with testing the vaccines made by China's Sinovac (Photo: AFP) 
