Joko Widodo Gets Second Booster Shot Using Home-grown Covid-19 Vaccine

JAKARTA, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo received his second COVID-19 booster shot on Thursday at the Bogor presidential palace, using domestically produced vaccine, IndoVac. The vaccine developed by state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma and Texas-based Baylor College of Medicine was authorised by Indonesia’s food and drug agency for emergency use on Sept 28. Joko Widodo urged the public, especially health workers and elderly, to get the shots to achieve herd immunity and prevent virus transmission. The country began the vaccination programme in January 2021, and nearly 205 million people had received the first dose of vaccine to-date, while 172 million people had been fully vaccinated. About 66 million had been inoculated with the booster or the third dose and 730,000 had received the fourth dose, he said after receiving the jab, according to a press statement. The country’s COVID-19 Handling Task Force reported 7,221 new confirmed cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections across the archipelago to 6.63 million. At least 51 more people have died of the disease, bringing the death toll to 159,524 and the total number of recovered patients has increased to 6.40 million. Data showed 84 per cent of deaths or 74 per cent of individual who are receiving treatment at the hospital with moderate and severe symptoms were not boosted, Health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said. -- BERNAMA