Grab drive-through service aims to boost Indonesia vaccination campaign

Indonesia is aggressively rolling out a mass-inoculation drive as it struggles to contain the largest coronavirus outbreak in South-east Asia. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

JAKARTA (BLOOMBERG) - South-east Asia's ride-hailing giant Grab Holdings is setting up drive-through vaccination services in Indonesia in collaboration with the government to help the nation inoculate more than 180 million people against Covid-19.

The programme, which started on Sunday (Feb 28) on the resort island of Bali, is the first to be done in South-east Asia, Grab Indonesia president Ridzki Kramadibrata said in a virtual news briefing. About 3,000 people working in the tourism industry were present at the Bali centre to receive their first shot. Details on other locations weren't immediately available.

Indonesia is aggressively rolling out a mass-inoculation drive as it struggles to contain the largest coronavirus outbreak in South-east Asia. It plans to vaccinate 70 million people by August, roughly a third of the total target of 181.5 million for the public campaign.

The government has made it mandatory for its eligible citizens to take the shot.

As of Saturday (Feb 27), 1.47 million people have received their first dose of the Sinovac Biotech vaccine, while over 900,000 have taken their second. Around 1.3 million people in the country have been infected and more than 35,000 died from the virus.

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