Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – As many as 998,400 doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine in a ready-to-use form arrived in Indonesia via Soekarno Hatta Airport, Tangerang district, Banten province, on Thursday.

The vaccine was obtained through bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Japan.

"I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Ambassador of Japan and to the Government of Japan, as well as all the Japanese people for their attention and assistance in assisting the delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Indonesia," said Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin in a press statement welcoming the arrival of the vaccine.

The arrival of the vaccine from Japan is the first of two planned batches.

With the arrival of this assistance, the number of AstraZeneca vaccine owned by Indonesia will be 9,226,800 doses.

So far, the total number of ready-to-use vaccines in Indonesia has reached nearly 100 million doses.

The health minister said that the vaccine assistance sent by the Japanese government was a manifestation of the closeness of the two countries that have been existing for a very long time.

Meanwhile, Head of the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) Penny K. Lukito said the AstraZeneca vaccine was produced by Japan's Daiichi Sankyo Biotech. BPOM is ready to oversee this vaccine until it is ready to be used for vaccinating Indonesian people.

Reporting by Indonesia Window