Indonesia holds mass vaccination to scale up virus fight

Thousands of Indonesians lined up at a sports stadium to get a COVID-19 vaccine dose in a mass, one-day event that’s part of a push to dramatically scale up the nation’s virus fight as hospitals fill with sick patients

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Thousands of Indonesians lined up at a sports stadium to get a COVID-19 vaccine dose Thursday in a mass, one-day event that's part of a push to dramatically scale up the nation's virus fight as hospitals fill with sick patients. Earlier this week, the Red Cross warned that the surging number of infections had put Indonesia “on the edge of a COVID-19 catastrophe," and it urgently needed to increase medical care, testing and vaccinations. Local authorities in Bekasi aimed to vaccine 25,000 people in one day at the main stadium in the city on the outskirts of Jakarta in West Java province. Thursday's event was part of efforts to reach the target of 1 million doses per day in July and 2 million in August. Tanti Rohilawati, chief of Bekasi's health agency, said more than 1,500 health care workers, including 550 who are administering the vaccine, are involved.