Ministry Of Health Distributes 40 Million Invitations Of Second Booster Vaccination

ILLUSTRATION ANTARA

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health has gradually distributed a total of 40 million invitation tickets for a second booster dose of vaccination to the general public over the age of 18 via the PeduliLindungi application.

"For those who have already got tickets, please go to the nearest health service facility (fasyankes) to get the second booster," said Ministry of Health spokesperson Mohammad Syahril as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, January 24.

For people who have not obtained tickets, said Syahril, they are still allowed access to vaccination services, with a record of six-month intervals from the first booster injection.

Syahril, who also serves as Director of RSPI Sulianti Saroso, said that registration for ticketless vaccination participants would be carried out later via the P-Care application.

He said the COVID-19 vaccination in Indonesia had reached 449 million doses of injections and 64 percent of Indonesia's total population had received the complete vaccine.

"Dose 1 for a population of 280 million has reached 95 percent, dose 2 has reached 84.3 percent, while booster 1 has reached 38.12 percent," he said.

Looking at the distribution of all provinces in Indonesia, from 514 districts/cities, there are still 253 districts/cities with dose 2 coverage below 70 percent.

There are still 346 districts/cities with the achievement of the vaccine for the elderly with dose 2 below 70 percent, the highest in Jakarta, West Java, and West Sumatra.

In order to speed up the vaccination process, said Syahril, the Ministry of Health issued a second booster vaccination permit for the general public over 18 years old which took effect today.

"Until today, more than 449 million doses have been injected into the public, but we must push for the relatively low booster 1 vaccination achievement rate of only 29.50 percent of the target population for the first booster," he said.

Recipients of the second booster are only around 1.2 million or 5.36 percent of the target for health workers and the elderly over 60 years.

Syahril added, the second booster is important to prevent a spike in cases by increasing the body's immunity and extending the period of protection from the risk of infection with COVID-19.