Indonesia Wants COVID-19 Endemic? BRIN Has The Recipe

Indonesia heading for a COVID-19 endemic? (Pexels/Anna Shvets)

JAKARTA - Indonesia has been struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic for two years. So, when will Indonesia reach a COVID-19 endemic?

There are several ways that a country can declare a pandemic to be endemic. One of them is vaccination coverage in the country.

The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) revealed that one strategy for Indonesia to reach a COVID-19 endemic is to meet vaccination coverage of 70 percent of the total population.

He added that it would be better if 40 percent of the Indonesian population had received the booster vaccine.

"All countries have the same recipe, which is to increase the number of full vaccinations to at least 70 percent of the population," said Head of BRIN, Laksana Tri Handoko, as quoted by Antara, Thursday, March 3.

In addition to increasing the achievement of COVID-19 vaccination, another strategy is the implementation of health protocols that remain strict, especially the use of masks. He said the public still had to comply with health protocols even though they had received the vaccine.

Previously, the Indonesian Ministry of Health (Kemkes) targeted COVID-19 vaccination to cover 70 percent of the population by June 2022 and made various efforts to achieve this target.

"The first dose of vaccination has reached 51.97 percent of Indonesia's 270 million population and we hope to complete our vaccination target of 70 percent by June 2022," said Ministry of Health spokeswoman Siti Nadia Tarmizi, last February 22.

In addition to accelerating services to reach people who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine, the government has re-vaccinated people who were late in receiving the second dose of vaccination, and who had not received the second dose of vaccination after more than six months of receiving the first dose of vaccination.

According to government data, as many as 337 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been injected into residents as of February 21, 2022. As many as 51.97 percent of Indonesia's 270 million population have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine.