BIN West Sumatra Targets Vaccination Of 10 Thousand Citizens In Eight Regions

Illustration/Antara

PADANG - The Regional Intelligence Agency of West Sumatra held simultaneous mass vaccinations in eight districts or cities in the local province with a target of 10,000 participants.

The head of BIN for the West Sumatra region, Hendra, explained that the eight regions were Sawahlunto City, Padang, Padangpariaman Regency, Agam, Solok, Fifty Cities, Tanah Datar, and South Coast.

"We are continuing the vaccination program today with a target of 10,000 participants. We hope that the 70 percent vaccine percentage target can be realized in order to create group immunity," said Hendra when contacted from Padang, as quoted by Antara, Wednesday, January 5.

He said the target participants for the vaccines in the eight regions were the general public, students, the elderly, and children aged 6-11 years.

According to him, the COVID-19 vaccination will continue to be carried out in accordance with the instructions of President Jokowi and the Head of the National Intelligence Service, General Pol (P) Budi Gunawan.

As part of the government's efforts to end the pandemic, including avoiding the spread of the Omicron variant. And reduce the risk if people are infected with the virus.

According to him, the level of risk for residents who have been vaccinated is relatively lighter when compared to residents who have not been vaccinated.

He referred to data released by the Ministry of Health that currently, West Sumatra's vaccination achievement has not yet reached 68.47 percent for the first dose and 43.43 percent for the second dose.

This achievement is considered more vulnerable to the spread of the Omicron variant, which currently has hit hundreds of countries.

Meanwhile, for the elderly group category, to date, only 220,227 people or 44.98 percent have received the first dose, and 116,543 people or 23.80 percent have been injected with the second dose.

"It means that the achievement of vaccination in the elderly group is still very far from the target, therefore we continue to urge the public to vaccinate," he said.

While the achievement of vaccination in the age group of 12 to 17 years is quite satisfactory because of the 589,723 target recipients, as many as 533,779 have been met.

On the other hand, West Sumatra's BINDA also reminded all levels of society to be aware of the potential explosion of cases of the Omicron variant, which according to experts, spreads very quickly.

Based on data as of January 3, 2022, there is a significant increase, the findings of cases that were initially in 115 countries have now increased to 132 countries including Indonesia.

The total number of confirmed cases globally also increased from 184,607 cases to 408,651 cases. Specifically for Indonesia, 152 cases were recorded.

He said Turkey, Arabia and the USA were the origin countries of arrival which dominated the Omicron case. For this reason, Indonesian citizens are urged to reconsider these countries as travel destinations.