Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Indonesia has reached a new milestone in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic after the number of fully vaccinated citizens surpassed the 100 million mark earlier this week.

According to Health Ministry's vaccination dashboard, 101.4 million citizens have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine as of Thursday, representing 48.7 percent of the target population.

Nearly 70 percent of the target population, or 144.7 million, have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

That means the country has delivered more than 246 million doses across the sprawling archipelago since the mass inoculation began on January 13.

The figures exclude booster doses for health workers totaling 1.3 million or 85 percent of registered health workers eligible for the vaccine.

The government targets to fully vaccinate at least 60 percent of the target population, or 124 million people, by the end of the year to reach the so-called herd immunity against Covid-19.

A senior minister said last month the government considers allowing paid booster doses for the public starting in January to prevent the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

Southeast Asia's biggest country recorded 220 new cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 4.26 million since the Indonesian outbreak started in March 2020.

The virus has so far killed 143,918 people in Indonesia, including nine more fatalities in the past 24 hours.

The total number of active cases stands at 5,278, according to Health Ministry data.

The ministry said Thursday there has been no single Omicron case yet in the country.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/101-million-indonesians-are-fully-vaccinated-against-covid1