ASEAN HEADLINES: COVID-19 – JAKARTA, Indonesia- Indonesia Aims for 2.3m Covid Vaccine Jabs a Day in September

Jakarta. Indonesia has set a target of administering 2.3 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine a day this month.

The country first kicked off its vaccination program on January 13.

According to Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono, Indonesia was able to administer 50 million shots in July – 26 weeks since the first jab. Then it only took six weeks for Indonesia to reach the next 50 million doses in August.

“As [we gain] more experience, the vaccination drive is much faster. We are aiming for 2.3 million jabs a day in September,” Dante told an online press conference on Thursday.

Last month, about 43 million vaccine doses landed in Indonesia. The government distributed on average 8-15 million doses in the regions. Indonesia was able to ramp up its vaccination to 10 million doses per ten days since August, he said.

Dante was optimistic about reaching the 2.3 million daily jabs this month — considering the distribution of 15.2 million doses in the fourth week of August, and 20.3 million doses in the fifth week of August until early September.

And speeding up the vaccination drive would also require collaboration between all parties, the deputy minister said.