Indonesian epidemiologists have warned the national government is too focused on pursuing a vaccine to defeat COVID-19 and is neglecting the public health system
, while tougher enforcement of mask-wearing and better contact tracing is also needed.
Virus awareness billboards in Jakarta feature President Joko Widodo. Although not the hardest hit, Indonesia is still struggling to contain the spread.Co-ordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said after cabinet on Monday the government would launch fresh campaigns to promote mask wearing and hand washing before claiming BioFarma-Sinovac could supply 290 million doses of the vaccine.
Dicky said that with low testing rates, the government was "far behind the speed of the spread and far from controlling the pandemic, especially for Java Island [home to about 140 million people] with more than 50 per cent of Indonesia's population". "A vaccine is not the magic solution for every pandemic, especially with COVID-19's characteristics."
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