Rifki Nurfajri, Jakarta – Alumni Kanisius Menteng 64 (AM64) commenced the second phase of its free COVID-19 vaccine drive at the Jakarta Convention Center on Monday, following the initial phase that ran from July 5 to 18.
The alumni association of Canisius College, a Catholic secondary school in Menteng, is targeting administering the second dose of CoronaVac, developed by China's Sinovac, to the program's 70,000 registered participants by Aug. 15. The majority of participants are commuters who work in Jakarta but live elsewhere.
"The second dose [...] is our commitment to the vaccine recipients. After we gave them their first shots, we must also give them their second shots," AM64 chairman Irlam Suud said in a statement.
AM64 is collaborating with the Jakarta administration, private companies PT Combiphar, PT Petrosea and PT Prosehat, as well as nonprofit organization Eka Tjipta Foundation and a state-owned company, to deliver its free vaccine program.
Following AM64, which also ran a separate vaccine program for the elderly in March-April, other alumni associations have started their own programs to pick up the slack in public vaccination drives. In Jakarta, for example, just 2.8 million residents are fully vaccinated, or 32.5 percent of the targeted population.
Ikatan Alumni ITB (IA-ITB), the alumni association of the Bandung Institute of Technology, also rolled out a free vaccination program for Jakarta residents. According to the group's Instagram account (@iaitb_official), it administered the CoronaVac vaccine to 300 people each day from July 29 to 31.
Separately, Ikatan Alumni Universitas Indonesia (Iluni UI), the University of Indonesia alumni network, is holding a free vaccine program in Jakarta from July 22 to Sept. 15 for 50,000 recipients above 12 years old.
Iluni UI is also administering Sinovac's CoronaVac vaccine, which underwent clinical trials in collaboration with state-owned pharmaceutical PT Bio Farma in Bandung, West Java, and comprises the bulk of Indonesia's vaccine supply.