Minister Of Health Expects Acceleration Booster To Reach 70 Percent

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin when delivering a statement to reporters after the launch of the SatuSehat Platform at the Raffles Hotel, Jakarta, Tuesday (26/7/2022). (ANTARA/Andi Firdaus).

JAKARTA - Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, said the policy of accelerating booster dose vaccination in Indonesia is expected to penetrate 70 percent of the target population.

"I see all over the world, there is no country that can achieve (the vaccination target) 100 percent. So I'm honest, it's impossible to achieve, the important thing is that above 70 percent is good", said the Minister of Health as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, July 26.

The Minister of Health said that in the last 15 months as many as 205 million Indonesians have received the COVID-19 vaccine in the form of complete primary to booster doses. The total injections given reached 410 million doses.

"The most we have to improve is the booster, and that's why we educate the public so they can (get better protection)", he said.

Reporting to the Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard today, the booster dose reached 26.38 percent or equivalent to 54.9 million doses, dose two 81.57 percent or equivalent to 169.8 million doses, and dose one 97.12 percent or equivalent to 202 million doses of the target of 208 million Indonesians.

According to the Minister of Health, booster vaccine protection can prevent the severity of illness when infected with SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19 so there is no need to undergo intensive care in a hospital.

The booster vaccine, said the Minister of Health, is an important protection in addition to compliance with health protocols, following the discovery of new variants in the community such as the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants which now dominate in Indonesia.

In addition, there were three cases of subvariant Omicron BA.2.75 experienced by several domestic travelers.

"We identified three BA.2.75 patients, one in Bali experienced by a tourist and two in Jakarta. The transmission is local", he said.