“We need to accelerate the vaccination programme to achieve herd immunity as soon as possible,” Penny Lukito, head of the country’s food and drug regulator said in a virtual briefing today.

The office, known as BPOM, first granted approval for Sinovac Biotech Ltd’s vaccine in January.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy expanded movement restrictions to three provinces starting next week to curb the pandemic spread, while trying to recover an economy that last year contracted for the first time in two decades.

Nearly 1.4 million people tested positive for Covid-19 so far, including six confirmed cases of the UK Covid variant.

More than 35,000 have died from the virus, according to the latest data on March 8.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is deemed safe for people aged above 18 years old, as well as the elderly, with an efficacy rate after the second dosage of 62.1%, Lukito said.

BPOM, she added, is currently assessing an emergency approval for Moderna Inc’s vaccine through a rolling submission, as the country sought to kick off a private vaccination programme in March.

President Joko Widodo’s administration expected the arrival of 15 million doses of Sinopharm Group Co Ltd’s vaccine in the first half and 5.2 million doses of Moderna’s in the second half.

Indonesia targets to inoculate 1.5 million residents per day in July.