10 Percent Of Jakarta Children 6-11 Years Old Have Not Been Vaccinated, Anies' Subordinates Suspect That Their Parents Don't Allow It

Illustration/between

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Health Office highlighted the current trend of stagnant COVID-19 vaccination achievements in children. In the age group 6 to 11 years, the vaccination rate remains at 90 percent.

Head of the Epidemiology and Immunization Surveillance Section of the DKI Health Office, Ngabila Salama, views that 10 percent of children 6 to 11 years old have not been vaccinated because their parents are not allowed to do so.

"In Jakarta, the vaccination achievement for their children is still stuck at 90 percent. Why is it, 10 percent of parents aged 6 to 11 years are still not getting their children vaccinated", said Ngabila in a virtual discussion, Friday, February 25.

Ngabila suspects, there are still parents who have not brought their children to be injected with vaccines because vaccination has not become a mandatory requirement for children to be able to take part in face-to-face learning (PTM).

Therefore, according to Ngabila, the DKI Education Office can make vaccination a condition for children to undergo PTM so that the vaccination coverage for children can reach the target.

"In my opinion, Jakarta can be used as an example for the obligation to vaccinate for PTM because access to vaccination is easy. From a cultural point of view (the majority) of the people believe in vaccination", she said.

Furthermore, Ngabila reminded the importance of vaccination for children. Because, after the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spread, the case findings in children following PTM were quite high.

"The case period for children is high in Jakarta. So, it turns out that this child's case is a superspreader and they have the potential to be undiagnosed. Why? Because the symptoms can be mild or asymptomatic", she explained.

Not to mention, some parents don't want to have their children tested with PCR or antigen tests just because they feel sorry for them. "Sometimes, these parents don't want to swab their children, so pity. So, the cases are very under-reported by these children", he added.