A total of 811,000 health workers in Indonesia have received the first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech as of Monday, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said in a statement.

Meanwhile, 167,000 healthcare workers have been given the second shot, Sadikin added.

The minister also said that as many as 193,000 medical workers were unable or postponed to get vaccinated as they were suffering such comorbidities as hypertension and diabetes, or were infected with COVID-19.

The ministry has planned to vaccinate 1.5 million health workers until the end of February before moving to other priority groups.

Sadikin was confident about achieving the goal after observing the current pace of vaccination.

"Hopefully in the future we can do it a lot faster," he said.

The massive vaccination in the Southeast Asian country started on Jan. 14 with health workers being the top priority group to get vaccinated. The Indonesian government is aiming to vaccinate 181.5 million citizens within 15 months.

On Sunday, the country's Food and Drug Control Agency (BPOM) said that it had approved the emergency use in Indonesia of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 60 and above.

Previously, the agency only allowed the Sinovac vaccine for use for people aged from 18 to 59. 

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