6-11 Child Vaccination Has Not Been Implemented, Minister Of Health: Prioritize Elderly First

ILLUSTRATION OF STUDENT VACCINATION IN SURABAYA/DOK OF SURABAYA GOVERNMENT

JAKARTA - Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin emphasized that until now the COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 6 to 11 years has not been carried out.

This is because the government is currently still focusing on vaccinating the elderly who have not yet attained communal immunity.

"Especially for children's immunizations, immunization is given on a risk basis. We prioritize vaccination for the elderly, which currently only reaches 40 percent", Budi said in a virtual press conference, Monday, November 15.

Budi explained that the vaccination program that was running in Indonesia was initially prioritized for groups that were vulnerable to being exposed to the Coronavirus. This vaccination starts with health workers.

"That's why health workers are given first because health workers are the ones who meet patients the most", he said.

Vaccination is also given to public officials and the elderly group, then the general public aged 18 to 60 years, followed by vaccination of children 12 to 17 years, until the 6 to 11-year-old vaccination is being planned.

The Minister of Health also explained the reason for the government to pursue vaccination for the elderly. He said, the fatality rate of the elderly when exposed to COVID-19 was the highest of any other group, which was around 12 percent. Meanwhile, the child fatality rate is below 1 percent.

"So, it's because the elderly have a fatal risk of dozens of times higher than that of children. As soon as (the elderly vaccination) is finished, we will go down to other groups whose fatality risk is lower than the elderly", explained Budi.

To date, the coverage of COVID-19 vaccination in Indonesia has reached around 130.6 million in the first dose and 84.5 million in the second dose. The vaccination target is given to 208 million people.

"Of the target population of 208 million people who must be vaccinated, 62 percent have received the first dose of vaccination and 40 percent have received the complete vaccine", he added.