Indonesia Continues To Boost COVID-19 Vaccinations Even Though WHO Targets Are Fulfilled

Illustration of covid-19 vaccination (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government continues to boost COVID-19 vaccination in all parts of Indonesia even though the coverage has managed to meet the target set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Director General of Information and Public Communication (IKP) of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics Usman Kansong ensured that the vaccination program would continue to be accelerated and expanded until all targets were successfully vaccinated.

"The government invites all Indonesians who have not been vaccinated to be vaccinated immediately to protect themselves and their families," said Usman, quoted from Antara, Sunday.

WHO targets vaccination coverage in each country to reach at least 40 percent of the total population who will get a full dose of vaccination by the end of 2021.

As for now, said Usman, more than 109 million Indonesians have received the complete dose, exceeding 40 percent as targeted by WHO by the end of this year.

Usman said that at this time Indonesia was still getting vaccines in stages. The latest, the three stages of vaccine arrival, namely the 173, 174, and 175 stages, arrived in the country on Saturday.

Two stages of the vaccine that arrived in Jakarta, namely the 173rd and 174th stages were the Pfizer vaccine, while the 175th stage was the Moderna vaccine.

The Pfizer vaccine that arrived in the country in the 173rd stage amounted to 879,840 doses and the 174th stage totaled 592,020 doses. The two stages of arrival are direct purchases of vaccines.

Usman said the 173rd phase of the Pfizer vaccine will be distributed directly to the Health Offices (Dinkes) of Lampung, Central Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara with an estimated arrival time on Monday (27/12).

While the arrival of the 174th vaccine will be distributed to the Health Office of North Maluku, South Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Maluku, North Sulawesi and South Sumatra.

"The estimated arrival date is Monday (27/12) and Tuesday (28/12)," he said.

As for the 175th stage of arrival, the Moderna vaccine that arrived was a donation from the Italian government through COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access) with a total of 922,800 doses.

Previously, on Thursday (30/9), Indonesia also received a donation from the Italian government through COVAX in the form of 796,800 doses of AstraZeneca.

"For the support and donations from the Italian government, we express our highest appreciation and gratitude," said Usman.

On that occasion, Usman also said that the government was continuing to optimize emergency response efforts to prevent the transmission of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19, from tightening quarantines from abroad to continuing to echo the call for people to postpone their overseas trips.

According to him, various policies in response to the entry of the Omicron variant were prepared by considering and involving input from various experts and officers in the field.

As a form of anticipation of the spread, he continued, the government has increased whole genome sequencing as well as tightened the quarantine period for travel from abroad. The government will also increase surveillance and close contact.

Although so far the omicron variant has not shown life-threatening characteristics, especially for patients who have received the vaccine, Usman still reminds the public to immediately complete the vaccination, according to President Joko Widodo's appeal.

The government will also accelerate vaccination, especially in the elderly group to minimize the risk of severity if contracting COVID-19.

Usman also asked the public to respond calmly to the entry of the Omicron variant, increase vigilance, and obey health protocols. Efforts and cooperation between all parties are needed to prevent local spread of the Omicron variant.

"Not only that, the government will prepare infrastructure such as hospitals and medicines to anticipate the bad effects of the Omicron variant," said Usman.