All Public Health Centers And Hospitals In Mataram NTB Are Open For Booster Vaccinations

Illustration of a COVID-19 booster vaccination. (Between)

NTB - The Mataram City Government conveyed that all Community Health Centers (Puskesmas) including Regional General Hospitals (RSUD) in Mataram are open to people who wish to undergo a COVID-19 booster vaccination or booster.

Head of the Mataram City Communications and Information Office (Diskominfo) I Nyoman Swandiasa said the acceleration of booster vaccination to increase body immunity was in line with government recommendations to anticipate the spread of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.

"For vaccination, the public can come to 11 public health centers in Mataram City and Mataram City Hospital and ensure that booster vaccines or primary vaccines are still available", said Swandiasa in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province, Tuesday, July 5.

Based on the latest data on the vaccination coverage of the NTB Provincial Health Office as of June 10, 2022, the coverage of the first dose of vaccination for Mataram City was 368,037 or 116.62 percent, the second dose of 283,398 or 89.80 percent, and the third dose of 64,206 or 20.35.

Swandiasa admits that the public's appeal for booster vaccines is currently a challenge in the midst of various easing of health protocol rules given by the government.

"The public's enthusiasm for booster vaccines is not what it used to be, so we need maximum socialization", he said.

Furthermore, Swandiasa, who is also the spokesperson for the Mataram City COVID-19 Handling Task Force, said that based on the latest Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) regulations, Mataram City is still at PPKM level one.

However, the development of the spread of the new variant of COVID-19 in several areas which tends to increase requires the government to take steps to tighten supervision of health care programs and booster vaccinations.

In Mataram itself, the daily cases of COVID-19 are very sloping. But he admitted that on June 18-28, there were five cases of the Omicron subvariant COVID-19 with mild symptoms, but the five patients are now healthy.

"Meanwhile, since July 1-5 today, there have been no additional cases and hopefully there won't be any", he said.

In addition, he continued, as an effort to prevent the COVID-19 Task Force, it would again remind people in public spaces to apply minimal procedures by wearing masks.

"For the business world, we also remind you of limiting visits to restaurants and cinemas to a maximum of 75 percent of the existing capacity and re-activating the PeduliLindung application", he said.