Indonesia has administered 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, setting a milestone that would help it ease restrictions further to revive the economy.
More than 23% of the country’s 270 million population, the fourth-biggest in the world, have received at least their first dose, while about 13% are fully inoculated, the health ministry data showed. Indonesia ranks seventh in the world in terms of doses administered, just behind Germany and ahead of Turkey, according to Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker.
While it still aims to inoculate 70% of people to reduce hospitalizations and deaths, the government has shifted away from its herd immunity goal, preparing instead to live with the virus. It has set out plans to gradually resume factory and in-office works while imposing strict health protocols and speeding up vaccinations. Infections and deaths have eased from the peak in July.
The government has struggled to meet its goal of giving out 2.5 million doses a day in August and September, reaching just about a million a day. The goal of administering 100 million doses daily was reached on Aug. 31 as targeted, despite much of the vaccine supply arriving only in August and September.
Health officials have also struggled to inoculate the elderly and to quickly distribute the shots throughout the world’s largest archipelago, while public anger have erupted over political elites taking booster doses at a time when most Indonesians haven’t even received their first shots.
Southeast Asia’s biggest economy probably posts slower growth this quarter from the previous period amid stricter curbs imposed in July and August to halt the spread of the delta variant. Growth may pick up in the second half if cases and deaths can be kept lower, the finance minister has said.
Despite lacking its own vaccine production, Indonesia has secured 86% of the 430 million doses needed for its mass vaccination program. It’s relying on a combination of Chinese-made Sinovac Biotech Ltd and Sinopharm Group Co shots, as well as doses made by AstraZeneca Plc, Pfizer Inc, Moderna Inc, Novavax Inc and Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccines.
