The Head Of The Ciracas Health Center Tells The Story, There Are ODGJs Who Run Away When They Were To Be Injected

Nakes gave the vaccine to one of the participants/ Photo: IST

JAKARTA - The Ciracas Sub-district Health Center, East Jakarta has started vaccinating COVID-19 for people with mental disorders (ODGJ). Vaccination against ODGJ was held to commemorate World Mental Health Day.

The head of the Ciracas District Health Center, Santayana, said that the target for today's vaccination is 30 ODGJs who will vaccinate the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

"Today's target is because we have contacted all patients (ODGJ), but again, there are those who run away, some refuse, some whose families are not ready to bring them. So today we will vaccinate around 30 people with ODGJ," he told reporters, Tuesday 12 October.

The majority of ODGJs who vaccinate are patients who routinely seek treatment at the Ciracas District Health Center.

"Routine patients, actually. Some have been there for years, months. We will call those recorded here again, we will call them one by one," he said.

With the vaccination for ODGJ, it can minimize the transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

"This ODGJ is special attention. They are special, and we make this event (vaccination) for them, it has a special time because like before, they have to be persuaded first, they must be loved first, they must be given motivation, then they want to do it," he said.

Santayana admits that this is one of the obstacles in vaccinating ODGJ. Then, he continued, because from an emotional point of view, ODGJ patients are sometimes unstable, so they cannot immediately get vaccinated.

"The family members are not necessarily able to bring them because sometimes the patient is unstable, that is the biggest problem," he said.