1.500 Elderly Health Workers In Surabaya Receive COVID-19 Vaccine
SURABAYA - COVID-19 vaccination in Surabaya is not only given to health workers aged 18-59 years. The Surabaya City Government (Pemkot) confirmed that 1.500 elderly health workers will also be vaccinated.
"Initially, the first batch of the Sinovac vaccine was for health workers aged 18-59 years. Well, it was just yesterday that it was announced that the vaccine could also be used for elderly health workers aged 60 years and over", said Public Relations of the Surabaya City Government, Febriadhitya Prajatara, in Surabaya, Tuesday, 9 February.
According to Febri, the number of elderly health workers in Surabaya is around 1.500 people. They will receive the vaccine at the hospital where they work.
He also ensured that the process of injecting the vaccine to elderly health workers was not much different from the injection of vaccines for the previous health workers.
"The process is the same, it has to go through several stages such as verification, screening, vaccine injection, and monitoring", he said.
However, Febri did not explain in detail how many elderly health workers had been vaccinated. This vaccination was carried out after the Minister of Health, Budi Gunagi Sadikin, announced that he would allow the use of the COVID-19 vaccine for elderly health workers.
"Because yesterday there was still vaccine stock that was received by the municipal government, finally we immediately held it today. As for the second injection, according to the provisions, it will be carried out four weeks later, so it is different from the previous health workers, which was only in two weeks", he said.
Meanwhile, one of the elderly health workers who received the vaccine this time, Bambang Priambodo (72), admitted that he was vaccinated at the Husada Utama Hospital in Surabaya. He admitted that there was no special preparation for when he was going to be vaccinated.
"After being vaccinated, I didn't feel anything. I wanted to be vaccinated for a long time, and I was called by the hospital, I was excited about the vaccines", said the professor who is also an orthopedic specialist.
According to him, the elderly health workers should also be prioritized. Because they are also at risk of infection because they are still practicing. With the vaccine, the elderly are more protected.
"The elderly should come first so that it is safer. Health care must be prioritized, as well as the elderly", he said.
He made sure this vaccine was not everything. Hence, he also gave a warning, even though people are already vaccinated, they still have to take care of themselves and maintaining health protocols. "Because vaccines are not everything. Even though they are vaccinated, we must maintain ourselves, health protocols must be prioritized", he said.