The first batch of a COVID-19 vaccine is set to arrive in Bali today, as Indonesia’s new tourism minister brought up the idea of prioritizing vaccination for 70 percent of the province’s population to kickstart tourism on the island.
According to reports, 31,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines from Sinovac are on its way to Bali from the West Java capital of Bandung with authorities expecting its arrival later tonight. As of today, Indonesia is still awaiting authorization to start using the Chinese vaccines.
The Southeast Asian country’s mass inoculation program aims to quickly reach herd immunity by prioritizing working age people between 18 and 59 years old, a notable contrast to several other countries, such as the US and the UK, which have begun their vaccinations by prioritizing elderly people, who are more vulnerable to COVID-19.
Bali’s Health Agency said that nearly 2.7 million people –– out of about 4.3 million in total –– in the province belong to the working age group. Around 30,000 from this group have been identified as health workers.
“The [vaccine] administration will be phased out, according to the arrival of the vaccines. We will surely prioritize health workers,” the agency’s chief Ketut Suarjaya previously said.
Yesterday, Indonesia’s new Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno highlighted how prioritizing vaccination for 70 percent of Bali’s population can be key for it to reopen foreign tourism, allowing the region to restart its economy that has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect the latest number of health workers in Bali, per data from the provincial government.
Read more news and updates from Bali here.
