True to his word, President Joko Widodo is set to become the first person in Indonesia to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, the Health Ministry confirmed today, with priority recipients throughout the country set to follow shortly afterwards.
An official statement from Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that Jokowi will get the jab on Jan. 13.
“The first jab will be given next Wednesday in Jakarta to the president,” Budi said.
Eight days before Jokowi’s scheduled vaccination date, Indonesia’s Food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has yet to issue an emergency use authorization (EUA) for any COVID-19 vaccine.
Indonesia has secured 125 million doses of a vaccine from Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac, with 3 million doses having arrived in the country in recent weeks. The vaccine, which have produced reported positive clinical trial results elsewhere, is currently being distributed throughout Indonesia’s 34 provinces, with the hope that prominent figures in the healthcare industry, public officials, and religious leaders will lead by example with Jokowi and be among the first to get the jab after the issuance of an EUA.
It’s not immediately clear which vaccine Jokowi will receive next Wednesday, though it’s worth noting that, as of today, only Sinovac’s vaccines have been shipped to Indonesia. The government has also secured 130 million doses of a vaccine from US pharmaceutical firm Novavax and is finalizing vaccine procurement deals from US-German pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and the UK’s AstraZeneca.
Budi previously said that at least 181 million people out of Indonesia’s total population of 269 million will have to be vaccinated to trigger a herd immunity against COVID-19. Assuming double jabs for each person and a 15 percent vaccine wastage, Indonesia would need to secure 426 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Unlike other countries like the US and the UK, Indonesia plans to begin mass inoculations against COVID-19 by prioritizing working age adults (18-59) over the more vulnerable elderly, with faster economic recovery in mind. Furthermore, Indonesia says it does not yet have enough data on the efficacy of Sinovac’s vaccine on the elderly.
The health minister said it would take around 15 months, starting this month, for the government to reach its vaccination goal.
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