Coordinating Minister Airlangga: According To President Jokowi's Directives, The Location Of The XX Papua PON Is A Priority For COVID-19 Vaccination

Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Airlangga Hartarto. (Photo: Doc. Coordinating Ministry for the Economy)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said the government would prioritize the implementation of COVID-19 vaccination at the location of the XX Papua National Sports Week (PON). This is in accordance with the direction of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"Mr. President asked for acceleration of vaccination to be the main focus and also given priority to 5 regencies/cities where the PON will be held. For this reason, the Health Office, TNI-Polri need to be deployed," he said in a virtual press conference, Monday, September 6.

Furthermore, Airlangga said that vaccinations in the five regencies/cities holding PON were actually better and slightly higher than the national average vaccination. For example, in Jayapura City, which has recorded 51 percent of the first dose of vaccination.

Then, Jayapura Regency 48.39 percent, Mimika 50.6 percent, Merauke 55.58 percent, and Keerom Regency as much as 33.73 percent.

"Active cases have increased but it is indicated that around 81 percent need to be corrected after 21 days," he said.

However, said Airlangga, vaccination outside the location of the PON is still a special concern of President Jokowi. This is because some provinces have very low vaccination rates. One of them is in Aceh.

"The president paid attention to Aceh, West Sumatra, Lampung, West Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, NTB, North Maluku and Papua, whose numbers are still lower than the national average vaccination rate," he said.

In addition, said Airlangga, for districts/cities where the achievement of the first dose of vaccination exceeds 50 percent, the government has started testing the application of the PeduliLindung application. The district/city is the City of Banda Aceh where the first dose of vaccination has reached 58.47 percent.

Then, Jambi City with 65 percent, Kupang City with 61 percent, Palangkaraya 58 percent, and Batam 83 percent.

"Peduli Protect is used for check-in venues in several activities, whether it's at the mall, at activities that require or are included in activities related to public facilities," he said.