"Today's vaccination program is organized by the State Intelligence Agency at four locations. First, we (conduct) vaccination activities for students at the Purwokerto 2 State High School, with a total of three thousand vaccine doses to be administered," Head of the Central Java Regional State Intelligence Agency Brigadier General Sondi Siswanto noted in Banyumas District on Thursday.
According to Siswanto, students from 12 public and private high schools and vocational schools participated in the mass vaccination at the Purwokerto 2 State High School.
Siswanto informed that the vaccination program was also conducted at the Darussalam Islamic Boarding School, Kembaran Sub-district, with a total of three thousand vaccine doses for administration. The participants were students from various Islamic boarding schools all across the Banyumas area.
"Vaccination activities for the community were conducted door-to-door at two locations. The first was in Berkoh Village, South Purwokerto Sub-district, with 1,500 doses of the vaccine, and the second at Purwokerto Wetan Village, East Purwokerto Sub-district, with also as many as 1,500 vaccine doses. Hence, in total, the State Intelligence Agency gave nine thousand special doses of the vaccine in Banyumas alone," he revealed.
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Siswanto highlighted that his administration was collaborating with the Banyumas District Health Office, which had deployed healthcare workers to assist in the vaccination program.
Furthermore, Siswanto stated that the mass vaccination was also monitored virtually by President Joko Widodo, who was currently in Aceh and then headed to Medan to observe vaccination programs.
"Then, we will virtually interact with the president," he noted.
Siswanto explained that the students were prioritized this time, as the regional government had not covered them in all the vaccination programs they had hosted. All along, the regional government was focusing on the general public, with elderly people being prioritized.
Hence, the State Intelligence Agency is committed to prioritizing students from middle schools, high schools, vocational schools, as well as Islamic boarding schools and madrasas.
"Hence, vaccines for students in Central Java is identical to that given by the State Intelligence Agency. We focus on preparing smart and healthy young people. After we vaccinate these students, the president has allowed them to partake in face-to-face learning processes," he noted.
He remarked that the Central Java Regional State Intelligence Agency had aimed to provide 400 thousand vaccines to students in 35 districts and cities across Central Java by December 2021. "The vaccine being used is Sinovac," he stated.
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Head of the Banyumas District Health Office Sadiyanto admitted to not having the exact count of students vaccinated in Banyumas since his administration was, until now, more focused on inoculating the general public, particularly the elderly people.
Nevertheless, Sadiyanto remarked that in the past half month, his administration had begun administering vaccines to those aged 12 years and above under the vaccination program conducted at the Satria Sports Center, Purwokerto.
"We have started to penetrate schools, but the percentage is still small. Thank God, the State Intelligence Agency has provided assistance. The target is school students, especially those from high schools, so it adds to the target for Banyumas District," he affirmed.
So far, Banyumas District has inoculated 28.6 percent of the targeted 1,398,427 people for the first dose of the vaccine, while the second dose has been delivered to around 14 percent of the target.
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Translator: Sumarwoto, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Suharto
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