COVID-19 Vaccination Progress For Elderly Has Only Reached 8 Percent, The Ministry Of Health Reveals The Obstacles

JAKARTA - The spokesperson for vaccination from the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, admitted that the achievements of the elderly who have received the COVID-19 vaccination so far, it has only reached 8 percent.

In this case, the elderly group is included in the priority vaccination targets in phase two, together with public service officers.

"We encourage all levels of society to participate in disseminating the importance of vaccination against COVID-19, especially to groups of people over 60 years of age. Currently, we know that only about 8 percent of people over 60 have participated in vaccinations", said Nadia in a YouTube Ministry of Health broadcast, Sunday, April 4.

Nadia explained a number of obstacles as to why the progress of vaccination against COVID-19 in the elderly is slow. The main factor is the difficulty of the elderly in accessing vaccination service posts.

Then, there is still the fear of the elderly to leave the house and do home activities. Then, the physical limitations of the elderly in reaching the vaccination center.

"In addition, there are still limitations to being able to register electronically to get vaccination services, and another is that we know that the physical limitations of the elderly", said Nadia.

Therefore, Nadia considers the need for help from family or the children to be able to take the elderly to the vaccination center.

This is because people aged 60 years and over have a risk of death and morbidity 3 times greater than the population of other groups.

"If there are parents at home or our neighbors who are elderly, then we certainly hope that young people, youth cadres, scouts, to invite them to join the vaccination program", explained Nadia.

"We will socialize it, we tell them that currently, they are a priority to get vaccinations to protect themselves", she concluded.