Indonesia begins inoculating pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, kids

Jakarta, June 30 Indonesia has launched a Covid-19 vaccination program for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and children aged 12 to 18, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin announced here.

In his announcement on Tuesday, Amin said he welcomed the vaccine rollout for the above mentioned categories, who are all listed as vulnerable to Covid-19, adding that inoculation is a game changer in dealing with the pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency.

Since the entry of the more contagious Delta variant, the number of Covid-19 infected children in the Southeast Asian country has increased by 12.5 per cent, according to data provided by the Indonesian Pediatrician Association.

Indonesia's national agency of drug and food control BPOM recently allowed the emergency use of the Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 17 at a medium dose.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian association of obstetrics and gynecology POGI recommended Covid-19 vaccination for pregnant women, especially those with high risk of being exposed.

In a statement on June 26, President Joko Widodo had announced that Indonesia has set a target of administering two million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine daily in August in efforts to curb the surge in the number of new cases.

He attributed the ongoing resurgence to the highly contagious Delta, Alpha and Beta variants.

Indonesia has administered 36,581,555 Covid vaccines till date, including 12.91 million second doses.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020. the country has registered a total of 2,156,465, with 58,024 deaths.

The pandemic has spread to all of Indonesia's 34 provinces.