Junior High School Student Vaccination Program Held Simultaneously In 28 Surabaya Schools

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SURABAYA - The COVID-19 vaccination for junior high school (SMP) students was held simultaneously in 28 schools spread across the city of Surabaya, East Java.

"We continue to accelerate. To make it faster, you do it in your respective schools with strict procedures", said Head of the Surabaya City Health Office, Febria Rachmanita, quoted by Antara, Friday, July 16.

According to him, the simultaneous vaccination was attended by students from grades VII–IX. She targeted the implementation of a special mass vaccination target on Friday for as many as 14.150 people.

Feny, Febria Rachmanita's nickname, explained that the first dose of vaccination for students is still the first dose. This means that the injected student has never received a COVID-19 vaccine before.

For this reason, she continued, her party provided the number of vaccines according to the needs of each school. "We distribute it as evenly as possible. So that students aged 12-17 years can be vaccinated at will", she said.

Not only that, Feny calculated that to date the total number of students who have been vaccinated as of July 15, 2021, has reached 18.623 students. Meanwhile, the recapitulation of the overall coverage of vaccinations in the City of Heroes reached more than 1.9 million people.

From that number, Feny ensured that she would continue to make vaccines available for students aged 12 years and over to the general public.

"We will continue to maximize this until all coverage is met", she said.

In line with that, the Principal of SMPN 58 Surabaya, Moh Sulistiyohadi, added that the enthusiasm for the implementation of the vaccine was considered extraordinary. The proof, he said, was that on the first day, the number of students who were vaccinated reached 400 students. They come and go according to a predetermined schedule in each class.

"Today there are still many, yesterday it was dominated by 9th grade students. Now if you look at the number of 7th graders, today's target is around 336 children", said Moh Sulistiyohadi.

He explained that before being vaccinated, the school had asked for parental consent by filling out an online form that had been prepared by the school. From there, it turned out that almost all parents filled out the consent form.

"Thank God, we can see quite a lot of students going in and out of the morning. But indeed there are some that we have not been able to vaccinate because there are students who are waiting for the results of the PCR swab test, that's all. The rest are all willing", he explained.

Meanwhile, a seventh-grade student of SMPN 58 Surabaya M Roziq Ardiansyah admitted that he did not get sick at all after the vaccine was injected. Therefore, he invites all his friends not to be afraid of injecting vaccines.

"It feels like being bitten by an ant, it doesn't hurt at all. Come on, let's get vaccinated, my friends will be healthy", he said.