"We continue to do vaccination acceleration intensively. Other than vaccinations among students to support the implementation of face-to-face learning, we are also increasing vaccinations for older adults," she said after reviewing student vaccinations at the Bandung City 41 state junior high school here on Monday.
Praratya lauded all parties who contributed to accelerating vaccinations and expanding vaccine coverage.
She said, during the student vaccination week, each student should bring one parent or grandparent to also participate in the vaccination.
One of the existing obstacles to vaccinating older adults, especially those in rural areas, is the difficulty of access to vaccination sites, she explained.
Therefore, she said her department has mobilized midwives to directly visit the homes of older adults and inoculate them.
"They have not been vaccinated due to the difficulty of transportation access. The vaccination sites are too far (from their homes). Therefore, we have provided a program to mobilize midwives to visit them directly," she said.
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In addition, hoaxes regarding vaccinations have also impeded vaccinations among the older adult group, Praratya said.
For that reason, there is a need to improve literacy among the community, especially people in rural areas, regarding the importance of getting vaccinated, she added.
To boost immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021. President Joko Widodo was the first to be vaccinated under the program.
The central government is aiming to vaccinate at least 70 percent of the Indonesian population by December 2021.
According to the Health Ministry's data, as of October 25, 2021, as many as 113,424,379 citizens nationwide have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, while 68,264,009 have been fully vaccinated against the deadly virus.
Related news: West Java's residents administered 18 million vaccine doses: governor
Translator: Ajat Sudrajat, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
