Doctor Reisa Broto's Message: COVID-19 Vaccination Important Conditions For Transitioning A Pandemic To Endemic

Government Spokesperson for Handling COVID-19 and New Habit Adaptation Ambassador dr. Reisa Broto Asmoro (Photo: Kris/Press Bureau of the Presidential Secretariat via covid19.go.id)

JAKARTA - Government Spokesperson for Handling COVID-19 and New Habit Adaptation Ambassador dr. Reisa Broto Asmoro conveyed that COVID-19 vaccination was an important requirement to undergo the transition process from pandemic to endemic.

"Therefore, the achievement of the vaccination coverage target must be achieved, because vaccination has been proven to protect us from serious illnesses that require hospital treatment and reduce mortality," he said at a press conference that was attended online in Jakarta, as reported by Antara, Wednesday, September 22.

In addition to achieving the coverage target, he continued, the distribution of COVID-19 vaccination achievements must also be considered, especially in the target group of the elderly (elderly).

"Although the target for the category of health human resources and public service officers is very high, the elderly category has not reached 30 percent or less than 6 million elderly who have just received the first dose," he said.

Reisa said, while the elderly who have received complete vaccinations have only reached around 4 million, or less than 20 percent of the set target, which is 21.5 million people.

"So let's focus on helping COVID-19 vaccinations spread evenly across all community groups so that we can get more good news as a result of our hard work together," he said.

Reisa appreciated the Surabaya City Government for collaborating to accelerate vaccination in the Greater Surabaya agglomeration area.

"The government believes this practice has also occurred in the Greater Jakarta, Greater Semarang, Solo Raya, Malang Raya, and other agglomeration areas in Indonesia," he said.

On the same occasion, Spokesperson for COVID-19 Vaccination, Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi said that vaccination for the Java-Bali agglomeration area was relatively good, but the performance of several districts and cities needed to be pursued to achieve the target of 70 percent of the first dose and 60 percent of the first dose for the elderly.

"West Bandung, Bandung and Bangkalan regencies need to increase acceleration to achieve the target of 70 percent of the first dose and 60 percent of the first dose for the elderly," he explained.

Outside Java-Bali, he also requested that the provincial capitals immediately reach the target of 70 percent of the first dose in October.

"Congratulations to the cities of Serang, Banten and Kupang as well as the city of Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan for successfully achieving their target in the third week of September," he said.

Meanwhile, other provincial capitals, he said, needed to increase the vaccination target coverage until the end of October.