Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Indonesia received Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine assistance from the United States (U.S.) on Friday and the AstraZeneca vaccine from France on Thursday (Sep. 17), through a dose-sharing mechanism.
“On behalf of the government and the people of Indonesia, I would like to express my gratitude and high appreciation to the United States and France. Thank you for your friendship and solidarity," said Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in a virtual press statement on Friday.
"The continued arrival of vaccines from the dose-sharing mechanism proves that Indonesia's vaccine diplomacy to build global solidarity provides real benefits for the people," she added.
The foreign minister Retno pointed out that Indonesia received 2,632,500 doses of Pfizer vaccine under dose-sharing support from the U.S. government through the COVAX Facility in two stages.
The first batch of vaccine deliveries, totaling 877,500 doses, arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang district, Banten province, on Thursday (Sep. 16), while the second phase of 1,755,000 doses of Pfizer arrived in the country on Friday.
Those shipments are part of the 4,644,900 doses of vaccine supported by the U.S. through a dose-sharing mechanism.
Furthermore, the third shipment of 1,140,750 doses is planned to arrive on September 19 and the fourth phase of 871,650 will arrive on September 23.
Minister Retno explained, overall, the number of dose-sharing vaccine from the U.S. government, consisting of Moderna and Pfizer, would amount to 12,645,060 doses.
The figure includes the 8,000,160 doses of Moderna that have been shipped previously.
Apart from the U.S. government’s assistance, Indonesia also received 968,360 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from the French government through the COVAX Facility on Thursday (Sep. 17).
That is the second phase delivery of the total commitment of three million doses of vaccine from France. Until now, according to the minister, the total dose-sharing that has been received by Indonesia from France is 1,327,060 doses.
Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Sung Yong Kim said that equal access to vaccines is very important in efforts to end the global pandemic.
"The United States shares vaccines unconditionally, with no strings attached, because equitable global access to safe and effective vaccines is critical to ending the pandemic," he said.
"Together with the government of Indonesia and civil society organizations, we are working fast to be able to provide safe and effective vaccines to as many people as possible," Ambassador Sung Kim added.
He added, in addition to vaccines, the U.S. government has also provided a number of supports for Indonesia to handle the pandemic, such as mobile vaccination clinics, cooling chains for vaccine distribution, health workers training, as well as 1,000 ventilators which are currently used in over 600 health facilities in Indonesia.
“The United States is committed to leading the global response to COVID-19 because this action is right and would make all of us, Americans and Indonesians, safer. We are proud to work with Indonesia to end this pandemic and rebuild a better world," the ambassador said.
Reporting by Indonesia Window
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