Herd Immunity Is Not Suitable For Indonesia
JAKARTA - The government will not implement the herd immunity system during the COVID-19 outbreak in Indonesia. Wiku Adisasmito, a team of experts from the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19, stated that the implementation of the COVID-19 prevention protocol would be better done.
The herd immunity is a term that has been widely discussed in the international world. In language, herd immunity or immunity in the group. This means that the more people who are immune to a disease, the harder it is for the disease to spread because not many people can become infected.
According to Wiku, geographically, Indonesia is not fit to implement herd immunity because many population groups are separated by islands. According to him, if the public is deliberately infected with the virus to generate immunity, it will take a long time.
"If we talk about herd immunity, it means that there must be high social interaction. If that happens, let's think logically, how can the islands infect each other if the interaction is not high. So, herd immunity does not necessarily form," said Wiku in a discussion. at Graha BNPB, East Jakarta, Tuesday, June 2.
Wiku said, herd immunity can be done when at least 70 percent of the people already have immunity from the population in an area. Meanwhile, currently Indonesia has only recorded about 26 thousand cases with 7 thousand cases recovered, of the total Indonesian population of around 271 million people.
According to Wiku, the government cannot guarantee that the majority of people have good immune systems, so that Indonesia has met the herd immunity requirement, where 70 percent of immunity has been fulfilled by the entire population.
Therefore, the implementation of the COVID-19 prevention protocol during daily activities while undergoing new norms is more appropriate in Indonesia.
"This virus is transmitted through droplets that we transmit to other people. In fact, using a mask alone can prevent it. Then also keep a close distance, and wash hands before touching the eyes, nose and mouth," said Wiku.
Herd immunity is difficult without vaccines
Furthermore, Wiku explained that herd immunity is better applied after the vaccine has been found. "Herd immunity will be accelerated by immunizing the COVID-19 vaccine," he said.
Unfortunately, until now a vaccine for COVID-19 has not been found. Vaccine production requires many steps. First, is to make a DNA design that can make antibodies when inserted into the human body.
Then, find a dose using the animal to insert antibodies into the body. If the animal's antibodies can rise, it can be tested on humans. If the antibodies are not good, the steps will return to the previous one.
"Treatment with vaccines takes a long time. Actually, we don't have to wait for that. The most important thing is the preventive approach that is actually within each of us, namely preventing direct interactions and undergoing health protocols," added Wiku.