Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo (locally known as Jokowi) has expected that the COVID-19 vaccination in the country would be completed in less than one year.

"I got information from the (health) minister that it would take 15 months, but I still bid for less than one year to complete," the president said at the State Palace here on Tuesday (Jan. 5).

"We have to work hard so that we can overcome this pandemic and pass it, and we will recover and have normal activities as usual. I think these all are our hopes," he added.

According to him, the implementation of vaccinations worldwide is expected to take 3.5 years.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Ministry of Health estimated that vaccination in the country with Chinese Sinovac vaccine would last for 15 months.

The vaccination program against COVID-19 in Indonesia will begin on January 13, 2021, with President Jokowi getting the first vaccine shot, followed by his ministers.

Earlier, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin set a vaccination target of 67 percent to 70 percent of the national population, or around 181 million people, in order to generate herd immunity against the coronavirus.

The Indonesian vaccination program at the initial stage gives a priority to health workers.

The government has distributed Sinovac vaccine to the country’s 34 provinces since January 4, 2021.

Reporting by Indonesia Window