JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that problems related to receiving information caused the number of COVID-19 vaccinations for the elderly population to be lagging until now.
"If we look at the elderly, we have started in early March, we have already started vaccinating the elderly. But it looks like the coverage is not optimal," said Nadia in the online Talkshow Keeping the Pandemic Steady Post-Christmas and New Years online in Jakarta, Antara, Thursday, December 30.
Based on records held by the Ministry of Health, the elderly are currently divided into two groups in terms of receiving information about vaccines. In the first group, many elderly people are still exposed to hoaxes and apply the incorrect information.
In the elderly who are members of the group, the information received leads to a mindset that creates fear due to vaccinations that will have dangerous side effects on their people.
Meanwhile, in the second group, the elderly did not fully understand the benefits of vaccination. In the second group, Nadia said, communities or associations attended by the elderly, such as during recitations or social gatherings, played an important role in educating each other regarding vaccination.
Due to these problems, so far the data shows that only 14 provinces have been able to achieve the target set by the government, which is 60 percent.
"If you look at regencies/cities, there are still many elderly people whose districts have not yet reached 60 percent. Meanwhile, for the entire age target, we know the 70 percent target at the end of December," said Nadia.
Vaccination achievements that are still lagging are also exacerbated by the presence of elderly people who tend to have the confidence to surrender to their fate, if at any time they are exposed to COVID-19 or die because they are old.
Although the government is now continuing to implement the strategy by opening various vaccination centers, providing banjar-based vaccinations such as in RT RW, conducting house-to-house vaccinations to coordinating with community leaders such as village heads and lurahs, this is meaningless if it is not accompanied by proper vaccination education. massively executed.
According to Nadia, so that the elderly feel confident and change their mindset to participate in vaccination, various COVID-19 vaccination campaigns that are supported and carried out together need to be increased.
The provision of education to the village and sub-district levels, he said, should also be encouraged so that vaccination coverage can run faster.
"We are sure that if we go through these campaigns, systematically and continuously educating them, we are sure that they will be vaccinated soon," he said.
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