Antara, Jakarta – The Jakarta Health Agency asked the government to relocate the supply of the COVID-19 vaccine from other regions with surplus stock to the capital as its stock is starting to run low in a number of medical facilities.

"We keep asking for [the stock] because Jakarta highly absorbs [them]," said the agency's head of disease prevention and control, Dwi Oktavia, in Jakarta, Friday, October 7, 2022.

According to her, the vaccine relocation is possible because it is facilitated by the monitoring system. If the vaccine is closer to its expiry date and the region records low absorption, the Health Ministry and local governments can carry out a relocation option.

However, no region has relocated its vaccine stocks to Jakarta to date. As the stock is running low, Jakarta is still determined to keep opening vaccine centers by adjusting the stock availability and reducing the sites.

During the past few days, Jakarta recorded a quite high booster vaccination rate as it administered the third dose to 1,800-2,000 people per day.

Meanwhile, the first vaccination in the capital reached 12,682,585, or 135 percent of the target of 10.8 million, and the second vaccination amounted to 5,064,192, or 68.48 percent.

As reported in the Health Ministry's page accessed on Friday, October 7, 2022, there are likely 58,086 available doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Jakarta as of 8 a.m. The average dose administered last week was 4,739. This means the current stock was predicted to last for only 12 days.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1642694/jakarta-asks-covid-19-vaccine-relocation-as-stock-lo