Ministry Of Health: COVID-19 Vaccination For Children 6-11 Years Starting Tuesday, December 14

Illustration - Implementation of student vaccination at IPEKA Pluit Christian School. (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination for 26.8 million target groups of children aged 6 to 11 years in the country begins Tuesday, December 14, said an official from the Indonesian Ministry of Health.

"We hope that on Tuesday, December 14, there will be a 'kick off' in several areas that we will determine, and then it will be gradual until next year", said Director General of Disease Prevention and Control of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Maxi Rein, Rondonuwu in a written statement received in Jakarta, reported by Antara, Monday, December 13.

Maxi said the vaccination was carried out in stages in provinces and districts/cities with the criteria for vaccination coverage of dose 1 above 70 percent and vaccination coverage for the elderly above 60 percent.

There are 106 regencies/cities from 11 provinces that currently have fulfilled this achievement, namely Banten, DI Yogyakarta, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, East Kalimantan, Riau Islands, West Nusa Tenggara, North Sulawesi, and Bali.

"Until now, as many as 8.8 million people from 106 regencies/cities from 11 provinces have met these criteria", he said.

Maxi said the Ministry of Health had allocated a total of 6.4 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine which already had an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for use in children aged 6-11 years.

Maxi believes that the amount of vaccine allocation is sufficient for the need for injections until the end of December 2021. "There are 6.4 million doses for December and then January 2022 there will be an additional Sinovac vaccine from the Director-General of Pharmacy and it has arrived, so this (vaccination for children) will not be broken", he said.

Confirmed separately, Spokesperson for Vaccination for COVID-19, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said the vaccine was injected intramuscularly or injected into the muscles of the body in the upper arm at a dose of 0.5 ml.

Vaccination is given twice with an interval of at least 28 days. Before the implementation of vaccination, a screening using a standard format must be carried out by the vaccination officer.

Vaccinations can be carried out at health centers, hospitals, or other health care facilities, both government and private, including vaccination service posts and vaccination centers, Nadia added.

"The decision to start vaccination has been confirmed in terms of safety and the benefits of protection that will be obtained, so don't hesitate to get vaccinated immediately, besides that it also complements other routine immunizations", she said.

She said vaccination for ages 6-11 years was one part of controlling the rate of transmission of COVID-19. "For us to keep pressing, so we get out of the pandemic".

Nadia added that currently the technical guidelines for socialization to all vaccinators are being finalized in stages from the provincial, district and city health offices.

The technical implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination for ages 6-11 years is adjusted to the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs (Inmendagri) 66/2021 regarding the Prevention and Control of Corona Virus Disease 2019 at Christmas 2021 and New Year 2022.

"According to the criteria of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the districts that have achieved the vaccination target and are also ready", she said.