INDONESIA: SLEMAN REGENT CONTRACTS COVID-19 JUST BEFORE VACCINATION

23 JAN 2021

JAKARTA: Sri Purnomo, the Bupati Sleman (the Regent of Sleman) in Yogyakarta, is reported to have contracted COVID-19 just before he was vaccinated.

According to local media reports, Sri Purnomo had received a Sinovac vaccine injection on Jan 16, and on Jan 20, was confirmed positive for COVID-19.

He is currently undergoing home quarantine.

Indonesian Health Ministry spokesman Dr Siti Nadia Tarmidzi in a statement said the vaccine was not the cause of Sri Purnomo being infected by the virus, but instead contracted it before the injection was given.

"From early on it has been stressed that COVID-19 vaccination requires two doses, the first one for initial immunisation, the second to reinforce the immunity that is formed.

"Several other vaccines like for chicken-pox and Hepatitis A also require two doses, in fact there are others (vaccines) that require more than that (more than two doses),” she said.

Indonesia started its COVID-19 vaccination programme on Jan 12 and is targeting to vaccinate more than 182 million residents.

Meanwhile, Indonesian COVID-19 Task Force Head, Doni Monardo, who is ever present at disaster zones in the republic, with the latest in West Sulawesi which was hit by a severe earthquake, has also been infected by the virus.

"From the PCR test done last night, the result is positive for COVID-19," Doni Monardo, who is also Indonesian Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) head, said in a statement here.

Based on BNPB data, as of yesterday, Indonesia had 965, 283 COVID-19 cases with 781,147 of them having recovered. -Bernama