"Our vaccination program is now aiming at these surrounding areas (agglomeration areas)," he remarked while visiting the An-Nawawi Tanara Islamic Boarding School, Serang, Banten on Thursday.
He said that most of the achievements in accelerating vaccinations in agglomeration areas have been reported in central areas, including Jakarta, Bandung, Greater Solo, Greater Semarang, and Greater Malang.
"For the central agglomeration area, it has actually been fulfilled, it has been achieved. Jakarta is even more than 100 percent. Residents with Jakarta ID cards and those who work and study in Jakarta have been vaccinated," he explained.
Meanwhile, in the supporting areas of the Indonesian capital, vaccination coverage is still low, he noted.
"Greater Tangerang, Bekasi, Bogor, Depok it (vaccination coverage) is still low," he said.
Therefore, he appealed to all levels of local governments to work hard to accelerate the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to the public.
With the acceleration of vaccination, the determination of the level of implementation of public activity restrictions (PPKM) can be eased, he said.
"So that later the level of PPKM can be lowered. Our provisions are that from the third to the second level, 50 percent (of the community) must have been vaccinated and from the second to the first level, 70 percent must have been vaccinated," he elaborated.
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Meanwhile, Indonesia has received an additional 274,950 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in finished form, officials informed. With the arrival of the latest vaccine batch, the total vaccine doses Indonesia has received so far in bulk and finished form has reached around 240 million, a senior government official said.
The government has ensured the availability of safe COVID-19 vaccines and can support the acceleration of vaccination, with a target of two million people per day, director general of information and public communication at the Communication and Informatics Ministry, Usman Kansong, noted in a press statement issued on Wednesday.
The government is also working hard to bring in vaccines and immediately distribute them to all vaccination sites in Indonesia, he said.
Kansong confirmed that the government will currently focus on pushing vaccinations for the elderly and the youth. Just 26.43 percent of the elderly population has received the first vaccine dose, while 18.73 percent have been administered the second dose, he informed.
He said vaccinations for the elderly group are important since this group has a fairly high mortality rate after contracting COVID-19.
Meanwhile, 11.83 percent of youngsters have received the first vaccine dose, while 8.12 percent have been given the second dose, he said.
Related news: Indonesia pushes for vaccination specifically for elderly, teenagers
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Translator: Fransiska, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Suharto
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