Indonesia begins inoculating those over 59

Indonesia will start vaccinating people aged 59 and above against Covid-19 from today - earlier than planned - after latest data showed that half of those who died of the coronavirus were the elderly.

The decision to speed up the vaccination for senior residents is based on the greater risk of health deterioration that they face when they are infected, said Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin in an online media briefing yesterday.

The move is an about-turn from an earlier plan to give jabs only to those aged between 18 and 59 first.

"The elderly account for 10 per cent of the total number of infections, but they account for 50 per cent of the total who died of Covid-19," Mr Budi said.

Some 11,600 medical workers above 59 will be inoculated first.

Meanwhile, the government has seen early indications that China's CoronaVac vaccine might have reduced infections among medical workers.

Data provided by two provinces has shown a declining number of medical workers who tested positive, following the vaccination programme launched in the middle of last month.

"We want to do checks and rechecks once more to see if this is consistent with all the provinces that have done aggressive vaccination on their medical workers," said Mr Budi, replying to a question from The Straits Times during the briefing.

"Central Java is the province that has done the fastest and most aggressive vaccination on medical workers."

Indonesia has 34 provinces, made up of more than 500 cities and regencies. The capital Jakarta is a special province.

Mr Budi did not name the other province.

Data obtained by ST yesterday revealed that in Central Java, the third-most populous province, 141 medical workers were infected with Covid-19 during the week ended Jan 30, compared with 179 and 267 in the previous two weeks respectively.

Indonesia is relying on the CoronaVac vaccine, developed by China's biopharmaceutical company Sinovac, for its immunisation programme.

Indonesia's food and drug agency head Penny K. Lukito said in a separate media briefing before Mr Budi's that her agency has given the nod for the use of CoronaVac on people aged above 59, based on results from the ongoing clinical trial involving 600 people aged between 60 and 70 in Brazil.

Those above 70 may still get the vaccine shots, but with more health precautions taken, she added.

Indonesia has so far received 18 million doses of CoronaVac since early December.

AstraZeneca vaccines are expected to arrive in Indonesia this month, and Pfizer-BioNTech's after next month. Both of these vaccines had earlier been shown to be effective in protecting older people in clinical trials.

Indonesia has over 175,000 active Covid-19 cases, surpassing India's 150,000, although there has been a significant decline in India's active cases, which peaked at more than a million in the third week of September last year.

But many hospitals across many cities in Indonesia are reporting full occupancy for their isolation beds.

The country is the hardest hit by the pandemic in South-east Asia, with 1.16 million infections and more than 31,500 deaths from the virus as at yesterday, according to government data.

Indonesia seeks to inoculate 181.5 million people, or two-thirds of its 270 million population, in 15 months to achieve herd immunity.

Number of people Indonesia seeks to inoculate in 15 months to achieve herd immunity.

Number of Covid-19 infections in Indonesia as at yesterday.

Number of deaths from the virus.