JAKARTA, Indonesia — Public workers, people over 60 and traders and security personnel are next in line for COVID-19 shots in Indonesia on Wednesday, after more 1.1 million mostly health workers received the vaccine in the first phase of inoculation.
The second phase started at Tanah Abang Market, Southeast Asia's biggest textile bazaar, with the target of at least 55,000 traders who will be getting China's Sinovac Biotech vaccine.
President Joko Widodo said that the second stage of the vaccination program is targeting 38.5 million people — 16.9 million public workers and 21.5 million elderly people. In all, Indonesia plans to vaccine 181 million people, or 70% percent of the population.
"We hope that public workers, including security officers, market traders, journalists, athletes, and staff at the shops and malls will get the vaccine. Other provinces will follow after it started in Jakarta. So we hope that the number of vaccinations will drastically increase every day," Widodo told a news conference.
The government is prioritizing seven provinces on Java and Bali islands that are categorized as red zones because of the high number of cases. The second phase is expected to last through May.
Indonesia has reported more than 1.2 million COVID-19 cases with 33,596 deaths.
