Someone once asked me how Indonesia had managed to carry out the vaccination which, in 17 months, had given 415 million vaccines to more than 205 million people.

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Ministry of Health has received 300 vaccine refrigerators donated by the Japanese government to support the COVID-19 vaccination program in Indonesia.

At the aid handover event here on Sunday, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin noted that logistics facilities have become one of the factors determining Indonesia’s success in implementing implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination program over the past 17 months.

“Someone once asked me how Indonesia managed to carry out a vaccination that in 17 months gave 415 million vaccines to more than 205 million people. One of them is due to the (availability of) logistics,” he said.

The availability of logistics in the form of cold temperature vaccine storage facilities had contributed 15% of the country’s readiness to win the war against the pandemic.

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During the war against SARS-CoV-2, the health system in Indonesia had been strengthened with the purchase of cold chain vaccine storage units with a temperature of minus 82 degrees Celsius, which is ideal for tropical countries.

“As a result, we can serve and distribute vaccines to 17,000 islands and 270 million Indonesians,” Sadikin noted.

The Indonesia-owned vaccine storage units, which include 44 ultra-cold storage units, come from a transaction by UNICEF through the COVAX facilities program.

This equipment has been distributed to 34 provinces in Indonesia and is available at the state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma Bandung in West Java.

During the event, Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Kenji Kanasugi praised Indonesia’s leadership in the health sector of the G20 forum.

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The purchase of 300 units of vaccine refrigeration equipment aims to help Indonesia achieve global health system resilience.

These vaccine refrigerators have been distributed for two days and more will come this year to ensure the success of the COVID-19 vaccination in the country, he said.

The vaccine is the main key for a country to face the challenges of the pandemic through a prevention, preparedness and response strategy.

Japan has donated nearly seven million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Indonesia. The Indonesian government currently has adequate vaccine stocks for its population, he noted.

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