Indonesia Lets Companies Run Vaccine Program to Hasten Rollout

Syringes used to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado, U.S., on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021. More than 1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered to Coloradans to date as public health officials are nearing their goal of inoculating 70% of all people 70 and older, state representatives said Thursday. Photographer: Chet Strange/Bloomberg

by BLOOMBERG

Indonesia is letting the private sector run their own Covid-19 vaccination program alongside the government’s to accelerate Southeast Asia’s largest inoculation drive.

Private entities must use a different vaccine supply from the government’s stockpile, provide the shots for free and submit data of the recipients to the health ministry, according to regulations issued on Friday. Foreigners and those working for international institutions can get their jabs either from the government or the private sector.

More than 6,600 firms have said they are keen on the private vaccination program, which is set to need about 7.5 million doses, said State-owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir. Indonesia aims to vaccinate 70 million people by August, roughly a third of the total target of 181.5 million in the public campaign.

Indonesia has aggressively rolled out its mass vaccination drive as it struggles to contain the largest coronavirus outbreak in Southeast Asia. The government is shouldering the cost of the public inoculation campaign and has made it mandatory to take the shot. As of Thursday, more than 1.46 million people have received their first dose, while over 850,000 have taken their second.