JAKARTA - Spokesperson for Vaccination of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tirmizi, explained that his party was still finalizing the policy of booster vaccination or the third dose for the elderly.
"Are we going to start vaccinating the elderly in January? We are currently finalizing the policy, considering that only 51 percent of the elderly received the first dose of vaccination, while only 30 percent of the second dose," said Nadia in Friday's Productive Dialogue KPC PEN monitored in Jakarta, Friday. December 3 quoted from Antara.
The elderly are one of the government's priorities for getting a booster vaccination because two doses of the vaccine are not able to increase their immunity which has decreased against COVID-19. Apart from the elderly, health workers and people with immune problems are also a priority to get a booster vaccination.
"But it must be remembered, booster vaccination would be better if it was started when complete vaccination doses one and two had been obtained by at least 60 percent of the target," said Nadia.
Based on the latest data, only 95.47 million Indonesians have received the full dose of COVID-19 vaccination. This value is about 45.84 percent of the target community to be vaccinated as much as 208.26 million.
According to him, the elderly and other vulnerable people need a booster vaccination because the efficacy of the first and second doses of vaccine will decrease over time. Especially when the vaccine is injected into the elderly whose immune systems are usually lower than people who are younger.
"The decline does not mean zero. It means that the protection is still there, plus the group immunity that has been built is a combination of good pandemic handling interventions," he said.
Vaccination is also one of the keys so that Indonesia can survive in the face of uncertainty due to COVID-19 in 2022.
"We need cooperation from the community because public compliance with the 3M, 3T health protocols, and accelerated vaccination are key in handling the pandemic to deal with various kinds of uncertainties in 2022," he said.
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