Ministry Of Health: Booster Vaccination Not Mandatory

Illustration (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, stated that the booster vaccination provided by the government for free to increase individual protection from the risk of transmitting the new variant of COVID-19 is not mandatory.

"This (booster) is not mandatory, meaning that additional vaccinations are given to increase protection from individuals because they see new variants as well," said Siti Nadia Tarmizi when she appeared virtually on Instagram Liputan6.SCTV which was followed in Jakarta, as reported by Antara, Thursday, 13 January.

Nadia said that currently there was information about a natural decrease in vaccine efficacy, so the government decided to give and provide booster vaccines.

The government's policy of making the third dose of vaccine free is to ensure that the public can access services so that efforts to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic are completed properly.

The event entitled "Booster Vaccines Come, COVID-19 Move Out" also presented Griffith University Australia Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman who explained two reasons why booster vaccines in Indonesia are not mandatory.

"First, the government must first complete the full dose of vaccination. This is in line with what the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that it is mandatory for people to get a booster vaccine to be immunocompromised (vulnerable health conditions)," she said.

The second thing, said Dicky, is the concern of the Indonesian government in responding to providing protection to the public from the presence of the new SARS-CoV-2 variant that causes COVID-19 which is currently emerging.

"That in the Omicron and Delta era, we are pursuing a two-dose parallel vaccination coverage outside Java-Bali, including protecting vulnerable groups in terms of work and body condition, including the elderly," he said.

Dicky assessed that Indonesia's decision to provide a booster vaccine was the right step. But it is necessary to ensure that the government remains consistent in achieving the primary vaccination target.

"It's good when the government imposes restrictions on using the ticket mechanism through the PeduliLindung application. The success of the booster depends on the strategy in the community, namely prioritizing high-risk ones," he said.

He said it was very difficult to avoid an explosion in the Omicron case. "In Australia initially at most reduce one or two cases a month. Now a day can be 20 thousand cases until the health service collapses," he said.

He said Omicron has a relatively lower impact on illness than Delta, but has the ability to disrupt the stability of health services and even other sectors such as food distribution and economic problems.

"In Australia not only disrupting health services, food distribution for the community is also disrupted because many logistics drivers are exposed," he said.

Indeed, in terms of individual impact or illness, Omicron is lower than Delta, but the health, social and economic impacts are much larger than delta. Because people who are disturbed by health problems are so numerous and difficult to control.