Over 800,000 medics in Indonesia receive Chinese COVID-19 vaccines

A total of 811,000 health workers in Indonesia have received the first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech as of Monday, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said in a statement.

Meanwhile, 167,000 healthcare workers have been given the second shot, Sadikin added.

The minister also said that as many as 193,000 medical workers were unable or postponed to get vaccinated as they were suffering such comorbidities as hypertension and diabetes or were infected with COVID-19.

The ministry has planned to vaccinate 1.5 million health workers until the end of February before moving to other priority groups.

Sadikin was confident about achieving the goal after observing the current pace of vaccination. "Hopefully in the future we can do it a lot faster," he said.