Many Residents Choose To Delay Vaccines Because They See The Sloping Case Of COVID-19

COVID-19 vaccine illustration (Photo by Hakan Nural on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health considers that people tend to delay vaccination because they see the COVID-19 case in the country is sloping. In fact, it should be the other way around.

"You should not delay vaccination when the COVID-19 case is sloping. On the contrary, it should be increased", said Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, Thursday, December 2, quoted from Antara.

In a webinar about the COVID-19 pandemic and the acceleration of COVID-19 vaccination, Siti Nadia Tarmizi said the condition of the decline in vaccination must be addressed by the provincial, district and city governments. Regions must pursue vaccinations because the sloping COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia must be a golden momentum to accelerate vaccination achievements in the country.

Worse yet, not only is there a decline, but the public is also trending towards choosing the type of vaccine. Whereas all vaccine brands circulating in Indonesia are safe and efficacious so that people can vaccinate with available brands.

"All vaccines are equally good, side effects are common as our body's reaction when trained on vaccines to stimulate the immune system", said Nadia.

As for the effect of the vaccine on the new variant, Nadia said, the vaccine could prevent people from becoming seriously ill with the new variant.

Although there is still much to be researched regarding efficacy, he said, the protective effects of vaccines are still numerous and the benefits are greater.

She said that currently, the national vaccination achievement is 67 percent for the first dose and around 46 percent for the second dose.

"It must still be increased, especially the elderly vaccination because it only covers about 53 percent for the first dose", she said.

To accelerate vaccination, especially for the elderly, it is necessary to make efforts to bring vaccination closer to the community, such as the "door to door" system and Posyandu (Family Planning Service Post - Integrated Health) for the elderly.

Acceleration of vaccination is very important to minimize the impact of the spread of new variants of the COVID-19 virus which can come to Indonesia at any time.