Ahead Of Christmas-New Year, The Ministry Of Health Asks For Acceleration Of COVID Vaccines In The Regions To Reach 80 Percent By The End Of The Year

Illustration-(Photo: DOK ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Siti Nadia Tarmizi emphasized that all districts/cities must have reached 80 percent vaccination coverage by the end of 2021 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 transmission.

"The government is pushing to accelerate all districts/cities, by the end of this year to reach 80 percent vaccination coverage," said Nadia in the 'Save Indonesian Women' Webinar, which was attended in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, December 22.

Nadia said that the low vaccination coverage and supported by high mobility of the population risked creating a gap for an increase in COVID-19 cases in all regions of the country. So that vaccinations must be intensified and accelerated, especially as we enter the Christmas and New Year period.

Acceleration of vaccination is also necessary if the effective reproductive rate (Rt) in a number of provinces shows an increase again above 1.

"We have to be vigilant, there are several provinces whose estimates of effective reproduction rise above number 1 and we have to be careful. This week, cases also increased slightly compared to last week, “said Nadia.

Based on the data he has as of December 20, 2021, several regions that have an estimated Rt number above 1 include South Sulawesi (1.02), West Nusa Tenggara (1.04), West Papua (1.09), East Kalimantan. (1.12), Jambi (1.13), North Kalimantan (2.23) and Riau Islands (2.28).

He further explained that the stock of vaccines owned by the state was actually quite a lot, especially vaccines with brands other than Sinovac. However, many regions and people prefer to wait for the availability of Sinovac rather than using other brands.

Therefore, in order to accelerate the formation of herd immunity and protect all levels of society, especially from the Omicron variant, he asked all parties not to choose vaccine brands and immediately vaccinate.

As for each region, he appealed to continue to intensify vaccinations both at the general target to reach 70 percent and 60 percent at the target of the elderly population (elderly).

Nadia said the government would continue to intensify vaccination and vaccine education up to the sub-district and village levels so that there would be no difference in knowledge related to the COVID-19 vaccine.

The government will also continue to monitor indicators such as community mobility, which can influence the policies being implemented in society today.

"That's why the government really monitors mobility. Even Pak Luhut once said, if cases are above 500, we will tighten mobility and even pull the emergency brake again so that our efforts so far, pressing cases again must return to their previous conditions, "he said.