Jakarta (ANTARA) - The West Jakarta Police presented a mascot and offered some prizes, such as bicycles, to students, who were vaccinated in six North Duri state elementary schools in Tambora Sub-district on Wednesday.

The gesture of offering gifts and presenting a mascot aimed at drawing the children's interest to participate in the COVID-19 vaccination program, according to West Jakarta Regional Police Chief Commissioner Ady Wibowo.

"This is to appeal to children about vaccination and offer (them a sense of) comfort," he remarked one of the vaccination sites.

One mascot from a popular cartoon series entertained children from the stage.

Moreover, a magic show was presented for the parents and students arriving at the vaccination locations.

Furthermore, two prizes in the form of bikes were for students that had recently got inoculated.

This effort was proven effective in drawing people to get the vaccination, as the initial target was only 300 students, but in the end, the total vaccine participants reached 700.

Wibowo implemented similar activities at other vaccination sites located across eight sub-districts in West Jakarta, with the objective of reaching the target of four thousand vaccinated children for today, he added.

"Today (as of Dec 15), four thousand children were vaccinated," he pointed out.

Wibowo also expressed hope that this form of massive vaccination would help the central government to broaden the coverage of child vaccinations until the year-end.

Earlier, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan had targeted 1.1 million children aged 6-11 years in Jakarta to receive COVID-19 vaccination services, both at schools and other vaccination centers.

Baswedan affirmed that the implementation of vaccination for children aged 6-11 years had begun simultaneously on Tuesday, Dec 14, marked with a "kick-off" or launch at the 03 Cempaka Putih Timur State Elementary School of Central Jakarta.

Vaccination services for children, which are available at schools, hospitals, and vaccination centers, are held by communities and agencies and institutions, the governor added.

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Translator: Walda M, Kenzu T
Editor: Sri Haryati
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