The government needs to encourage the acceleration of vaccination in areas that have not reached the maximum target for vaccinationBanjarmasin (ANTARA) - Member of the Expert Team at the University of Lambung Mangkurat (ULM) for the Acceleration of COVID-19 Handling, Hidayatullah Muttaqin, believes that COVID-19 vaccination inequality between regions had hindered realization of the national vaccination target.
"The government needs to encourage the acceleration of vaccination in areas that have not reached the maximum target for vaccination," Muttaqin stated on Friday.
According to the expert team's member, vaccination inequality occurred between Java-Bali and outside Java, as well as between cities and districts.
Referring to the Health Ministry's data, 28-29 percent of the population had received complete vaccinations in the Java and Bali and Nusa Tenggara regions.
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Meanwhile, vaccination in other regions is still below 20 percent of the total population, with the lowest achievement recorded in Maluku and Papua, at only 11 percent.
The disparity is wider between vaccinations in 98 cities and 416 districts. Complete vaccination in the city has reached 48 percent of the total 58-million population. Meanwhile, the figure reached only 16 percent of the 212-million populace in districts.
Muttaqin emphasized that inadequate vaccination achievement had hindered efforts to achieve herd immunity for which 208,265,720 people, or 70 percent of the total population, had to be fully vaccinated.
Currently, 66,316,667 people or 31.84 percent of Indonesia's population had received two doses of the vaccination on October 22, with inequal vaccination achievements in each region.
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To this end, Muttaqin reminded the government to be aware of this issue based on the experiences of other countries.
For instance, Singapore, which has fully vaccinated 82 percent of the population, is still facing an spike in the number of COVID-19 cases.
"This situation indicates that Indonesia's lower vaccination rate could pose a greater risk than Singapore," he pointed out.
If the vaccination achievement has not been pushed to meet the target, then Muttaqin emphasized the importance of controlling population mobility while increasing health protocol campaigns and implementation.
"The goal is to prevent the potential for a third wave of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia," he affirmed.
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Translator: Firman, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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