Minister Of Home Affairs Tito Appreciates COVID-19 Vaccination In Riau Islands

Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian and Riau Islands Governor Ansar Ahmad witnessed the administration of a booster COVID-19 vaccine to an elderly person in Batam City, Thursday (13/1). (ANTARA/Naim)

BATAM - Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian appreciated the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination in the Riau Islands Province, whose achievements have reached more than 100 percent of the target population.

"I am amazed by Riau Islands, vaccination is above 100 percent," said the Minister of Home Affairs in his remarks at the launch of the COVID-19 vaccination program to strengthen the Riau Islands Province in Batam, as reported by Antara, Thursday, January 13.

He stated that the Riau Islands vaccination rate was among the three fastest in Indonesia, after Jakarta and Bali.

According to him, the achievement of vaccination in Riau Islands is in line with the level of control of COVID-19 transmission in the province which borders Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.

The high achievement of vaccination is also in line with the formation of local community immunity.

"The speed of vaccination in Riau Islands has yielded good results. It is proven by the number of positive cases that have fallen far now, the number of cases in hospitals that used to be full is now empty, the number of recovered residents has increased, and the death rate has decreased," he said.

He conveyed, based on a serological survey conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the formation of antibodies in the bodies of residents in three regencies/cities in Riau Islands was relatively high at the end of November 2021.

"In Batam it was 91.3 percent, this confirms the finding of the Mayor in October 2021 of 86.9 percent. Then Karimun also 91.3 percent, and Bintan 86.9 percent," he said.

Based on a similar survey conducted by the Riau Islands Provincial Government, it was concluded that almost 89 percent of Riau Islands residents had COVID-19 antibodies.

"It means 90 percent, if 10 people gather, nine people have antibodies," he said.

In the same place, Riau Islands Governor Ansar Ahmad stated that based on KCPEN data, the achievement of the first dose of vaccination for people aged over 18 years overreached 102 percent, and for the second dose it was 87 percent of the target population.

As for the elderly, the first dose was given to 81.2 percent of the target population and the second dose was 65.07 percent.

The first dose of vaccination for children aged 12-17 has reached 103.15 percent and the second dose is 89 percent.

"Vaccination for children aged 6-11 years, which has only been carried out for four weeks, has reached 68.90 percent. Our target is to complete 100 percent this week," he said.

He stated that his party was continuously trying to reduce the number of transmission of COVID-19 so that it could reach zero active cases.