UGM Epidemiologist: COVID-19 Vaccination Creates A False Sense Of Security

The vaccinator injects the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine (Photo: M Risyal Hidayat/Antara)

JAKARTA - Epidemiologist from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Dr. Riris Andono Ahmad expressed his concern that the COVID-19 vaccination that the government continues to strive for has created a false sense of security for some residents so that they ignore health protocols because they think they are already immune from COVID-19.

"Don't actually create a false sense of security because being vaccinated doesn't make people 100 percent free from COVID-19 infection," Riris said when contacted in Yogyakarta, as reported by Antara, Friday, May 28.

According to Riris, the COVID-19 vaccination effort is still ongoing and intensified by the government so as to achieve herd immunity or group immunity.

To really stop a pandemic, herd immunity must be achieved first, which is by vaccinating at least reaching 70 percent of the Indonesian population.

"Now how many, most vaccinations have only reached three percent of the population. So is there any impact or not?" he said.

According to him, the emergence of a false sense of security is a community side effect of vaccination where people do not fully understand the limitations of vaccination.

Therefore, along with the process of building immunity at the community level, according to him, people who have received the vaccine must continue to apply 5M including wearing masks, maintaining distance, washing hands, staying away from crowds, and reducing mobility consistently.

Without strictly implementing the 5M, he estimates that COVID-19 transmission has the potential to continue even though some residents have been injected with the COVID-19 vaccine.

"There is no other way except for 5M for the next few years. Otherwise, our risk of contracting it will be higher," he said.