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INDONESIA’S Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi asked the Indonesian people to pay attention and learn from developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic that is happening in the world, especially the emergence of new waves in a number of countries.
“We must prevent a similar incident from occurring in Indonesia,” said Retno at a press conference for the arrival of the second batch of AstraZeneca vaccines, which were obtained from the COVAX scheme, from Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang, Banten, Monday (26/4) night.
On this occasion, Retno Marsudi conveyed Indonesia’s concern about the new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has emerged in a number of countries in the world as well as the emergence of new variants in various countries.
“We also see that the world’s need for vaccines is increasing and here and there we see a slowdown in vaccine shipments around the world,” she said.
In the midst of it all, she continued, the Indonesian government continues to strive to ensure the safety of vaccine supplies to meet the needs of the Indonesian people. However, cooperation from all parties is needed to be able to fight the virus together.
“Efforts to prevent that can be done if we all continue to be disciplined in implementing health protocols. Don’t ever let your guard down. The fight against COVID-19 is far from over,” Retno stated.
She also called on all components of society to continue to adhere to health protocols consistently, such as wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining distance.
Previously, Indonesia received 3,852,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine made by AstraZeneca through the COVAX multilateral vaccine cooperation facility in the delivery of the second batch that arrived in Indonesia on Monday (26/4).
“Tonight, Indonesia received the vaccine to become AstraZeneca for 3,852,000 doses. The shipment of the first batch of multilateral vaccines from the COVAX Facility was received by Indonesia on March 3, 2021, amounting to 1.1 million doses. Thus, the number of COVID-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca that Indonesia has received through the multilateral COVAX scheme is 4,965,600 doses and all of them are obtained free of charge,” said the Foreign Minister.
Retno also expressed her gratitude for the Government of Indonesia to a number of institutions that have been involved in the delivery of vaccines from the multilateral scheme, including GAVI, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and CEPI.
“We hope that the next multilateral vaccine delivery can continue as planned,” Retno Marsudi concluded. [antaranews/photo special]
