Following the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines from Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac in Bali last night, Governor Wayan Koster announced that he’s ready to be the first one to get the jab on the island to set an example for the public.
The Chinese vaccines, which have yet to receive authorization from Indonesia’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), arrived a little after midnight last night. The first batch reportedly contains 31,000 doses and was delivered from state-owned pharmaceutical holding company Bio Farma’s warehouse in Bandung, West Java.
“I have discussed this with the [Udayana] Military Commander and the [Bali] Police Chief, we will do it together. We’ll be the first [to get inoculated],” Koster said at a press conference.
“We must be an example for the people.”
Indonesian officials say that working age people between 18 and 59 years old will be prioritized for its mass inoculation program, with health workers among them to be the first ones to get the vaccines. Koster said the first round of vaccinations will be carried out for about 30,000 frontline health workers in the province.
