Ministry Of Health Targets 70 Percent Of Population Completely Vaccinated By The End Of May

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health is targeting that 70 percent of Indonesia's total population, around 270 million people, will undergo a complete COVID-19 vaccination by the end of May 2022.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that this achievement was to fulfill the requirements of the World Health Organization (WHO), namely that 70 percent of the population had been vaccinated.

"Currently, the second dose for vaccination from 208 million has reached almost 80 percent. But our target is even more, at the end of May we hope that 70 percent of our total 270 million people have been vaccinated," said Nadia, quoted by Antara, Thursday, April 7th.

Nadia said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus's statement about the world could get out of the pandemic if at least 70 percent of the global community had been vaccinated. So that Indonesia targets this achievement by the end of May.

In addition, Nadia said the government's focus was not only on giving booster vaccinations or three doses to travelers ahead of the Lebaran homecoming period, but simultaneously giving the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine a priority.

This is a strategy as well as a trial to coexist with COVID-19, which the government is doing in the face of a big celebration, namely Lebaran homecoming this year.

"We know that COVID-19 will take a long time to disappear or what we call elimination, eradication, what we are doing is controlling," he said.

Nadia said that in endemic conditions, there is always the potential for an increase in cases of extraordinary events. According to him, the homecoming period can be a means of testing the current antibody resistance, which is added with booster vaccine protection, acceleration of the first and second doses of vaccination, even in a number of homecoming destinations.

"So it's not just travelers, but local governments, regencies/cities, which are homecoming destinations, which are tourism places, we encourage immediate vaccinations. Especially 70 percent of the general public and the elderly, because these elderly people are still homework. house) we are together," he said.