Jakarta, Jan 3 (EFE).- Indonesia on Sunday began distributing 1.2 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine developed by the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech across all of its 34 provinces with a view to starting inoculating the population this month.

Indonesia is the worst affected country in Southeast Asia by the pandemic, having recorded more than 765,350 infections and at least 22,734 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

According to Bambang Heriyanto, spokesman of the state-owned Bio Pharma, the distribution of the vaccine will be carried out in more than 10,000 health centers that have been prepared to receive the doses safely, he told a press conference on Sunday.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, told a virtual press conference that the country's first phase of vaccinations -- which will inoculate some 81.5 million people -- is expected to take 15 months.

"We need 15 months to have it accomplished. The time frame for conducting the vaccination is counted from January 2021 to March 2022," she said, according to the state-owned Antara news agency.

The country, which has been conducting trials with the Sinovac vaccine since August, is preparing for a massive inoculation program and will receive a second shipment of 1.8 million doses this month.

Likewise, the researchers expect to receive the raw material also this month in order to produce some 15 million doses of the vaccine in the laboratories of the Asian nation, the fourth most populated in the world.

The vaccine, which will be free for the entire population, will first be inoculated to health workers, officials and high-risk segments of the population.

Tarmizi warned that people would need to continue following health guidelines for the foreseeable future while the vaccine is rolled out across the massive archipelago.

"We still have a long way to go before being able to get out of this coronavirus pandemic. An effective fight against it is conducting vaccination programs and consistently practicing 3M health protocols," she said. "3M" refers to "menjaga jarak", or social distancing; "mencuci tangan", hand-washing; and "memakai masker", mask-wearing. EFE

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