Indonesia is approaching the 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases mark as the country suffers from “wrong” testing, tracing and isolating strategies, as well as a surge in hospitalizations
The Indonesian government is considering allowing companies to initiate vaccination against coronavirus for their employees amid ongoing surge in newly cases that takes the country closer to the grim milestone of 1 million cases.
There have been an additional 11,788 coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 989,262, Health Ministry figures show.
Since mass vaccination commenced on Jan. 13, less than 50,000 people have received the first dose of China’s Sinovac vaccine. Some consider this number to be too slow to slow down infection rate.
The government has targeted to vaccinate 181 million people or around 70 percent of the population and President Joko Widodo said last month the vaccination drive would be funded entirely by the state budget.
As Indonesia begins inoculating medical workers against COVID-19, data problems have become apparent, making registration for the program difficult and clouding the country’s ambitious plan to vaccinate some 181 million people. The country is prioritizing the vaccination of about 1.3 million medical workers and staff members from Jan. 14 to April of this year.
Last week the president hinted that he might allow employers to fund and arrange vaccination program for their workers to allow for broad vaccine coverage, bypassing government’s priority groups of beneficiaries. Details remains to be seen.