Indonesia launched one of the world’s biggest Covid-19 vaccination campaigns on Wednesday with President Joko Widodo getting the first shot of a Chinese vaccine as his country fights one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Asia.
Wednesday, 13 Jan 2021 11:18 AM MYT
Indonesian President Joko Widodo receives a shot of Covid-19 vaccine at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta January 13, 2021. Picture courtesy of Agus Suparto/Indonesian Presidential Palace/Handout via Reuters
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JAKARTA, Jan 13 Indonesian President Joko Widodo became the first person in the country to receive a Covid-19 vaccine shot today, as the government launched an ambitious vaccination campaign in a bid to stem one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Asia.
The immunisation campaign aims to inoculate 181.5 million people, with the first to be vaccinated receiving the CoronaVac vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech, which Indonesia authorised for emergency use on Monday.
Great power competition in the Asia-Pacific region has been building for years. But COVID-19 has turbo-charged the shifts taking place and China is finishing 2020 in a significantly stronger position compared with the US than when the year started.
Meanwhile, Canberra’s relations with Beijing continue to deteriorate and there’s little reason to be optimistic that a sudden, positive turnaround will be seen in 2021.
As competition rather than cooperation has become the dominant frame through which both Beijing and Washington view their bilateral relationship, each is increasingly sensitive to evidence that other countries in the Asia-Pacific region are supporting their opponent.
Indonesia to offer free vaccines, with Jokowi first in line
published : 16 Dec 2020 at 15:07
247 An official pushes a trolley with coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccines from China s Sinovac Biotech Ltd as they arrive at PT Bio Farma (Persero) in the first shipment to Indonesia, in Bandung, West Java province, Dec 7, 2020. (Courtesy of Muchlis Jr/Indonesian Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERS)
Indonesia has decided to offer free Covid-19 vaccines to people after considering the state budget, said President Joko Widodo.
Jokowi, as he’s commonly known, has ordered the finance minister to reallocate spending from other matters to fund the free vaccines, he said in a cabinet secretariat statement. He will also be the first to be inoculated as a way to show people that the shots are safe.