Starting The Third Year Of The Pandemic In Indonesia, Epidemiologist Says The Government Can't Rely On Vaccinations Only

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JAKARTA - Two years since the discovery of the first COVID-19 case in Indonesia has passed. Today, the pandemic in the country is entering its third year.

According to an epidemiologist from Griffith University Australia, Dicky Budiman, the threat of COVID-19 still exists today. In the future, new variants of the corona virus will still appear.

Therefore, there are still challenges to be faced in undergoing the pandemic. Although currently there is vaccination as a protection measure, the government can't just rely on it.

"Our response to the threat of the virus has indeed been given the capital of vaccination. However, vaccination cannot only be a mainstay. There must be adaptive action to respond to the situation living with COVID-19," said Dicky to VOI, Wednesday, March 2.

The adaptive actions referred to by Dicky need to be carried out by the government and the community. To the community, Dicky appealed to a more healthy lifestyle.

Considering that various diseases, including COVID-19, are easy to attack when the body is in an unhealthy condition and immunity is weakened.

"There must be adaptive actions to respond to the situation of living with COVID, in the sense of living a healthier life. Sanitation and air quality in the environment and offices need to be maintained," said Dicky.

To the government, mitigation measures must be taken from now on. Even when the COVID-19 case is sloping, this cannot be taken lightly.

The government, according to Dicky, needs to take various mitigation measures. Among them is strengthening equal access to public health services, particularly vulnerable and high-risk groups.

"This includes responsiveness of responsive policies, in this case we have anticipated long ago. Unlike reactive, which has already happened, the policy has just been made," he explained.

Then, it is necessary to strengthen data management. The data management in question includes a reporting system for COVID-19 case findings, whether infection, illness, death.

"We realize that compared to other countries, we don't have to go far, with Singapore, our data management system is still weak," said Dicky.

In fact, said Dicky, carefully processed and validated data will become a strong basis for communicating with leaders to the public so that risk perceptions are built.

"Policy makers can also take a strong policy basis because the data is strong. Also, we will be able to refer to this data to predict and adapt to future conditions. This is still a challenge," he explained.