Areas With Low Vaccination Potential To Be A Nest Of Virus Mutations

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JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force, Prof. Wiku Adisasmito, said that areas with low vaccination rates and high population mobility have the potential to become hotbeds for COVID-19 mutations.

"If you want to see the potential for mutations from COVID-19, then look at countries and regions with low vaccination and high interaction or mobility," he said in the What Is Podcast which was followed from YouTube B1 Plus in Jakarta, reported by Antara, Wednesday, March 2.

In the event titled "Two Years of the Indonesian Pandemic, Build a Champion Mental", he ensured that virus mutations will still occur because it is part of nature to survive.

"Just like humans, will also try to survive," he said.

According to Wiku, the threat to the corona virus can arise, one of which is when there is a vaccination intervention.

However, not all countries in the world have the same vaccination capabilities as Indonesia.

"This means that vaccination sites are not as high as in Africa, for example, mutations occur in places with weak immunity," he said. Endemic status in one country does not mean that the pandemic is over in the whole world. Each country needs to build collaboration to strengthen each other and cover the weaknesses of various other countries.

"In my opinion, Indonesia is an area where the potential for virus mutations is small. The risk will only increase for mutations in places where vaccinations are not high and the interaction between people's mobility is high," he said.

Countries that are alleged to have not received equal rights to vaccines include countries in Africa, parts of Asia, and Latin America.

"Those are the countries that really need to be helped. By closing those areas through vaccination, it's actually saving the whole world," he said.