"Public communication continues to be carried out so that people will not be picky over vaccines. The best vaccine is the vaccine that we can get as soon as possible," he remarked at a virtual press conference on Monday.
To accelerate herd immunity, the government has also adjusted the waiting window for getting the booster dose from six months after the second dose to just three months, he said.
So far, 54 percent of Indonesian citizens have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Harbuwono noted.
Speaking at the press conference, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Panjaitan said that the public activity restrictions (PPKM) level in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, and Greater Surabaya areas has been lowered to Level 2 due to an improvement in the COVID-19 situation in those regions.
However, the Deputy Minister of Health noted that there are still five provinces that are witnessing an increasing trend in daily active cases—Aceh, East Nusa Tenggara, Southeast Sulawesi, Gorontalo, and North Kalimantan.
Related news: Gov't collaborates with business actors in booster vaccine provision
As part of efforts to boost community immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government initiated a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021. President Joko Widodo was the first vaccine recipient under the program.
According to data provided by the Health Ministry, nearly 192,134,689 Indonesians have received their first COVID-19 jab, 148,347,458 have been fully vaccinated, and 12,698,131 have received the booster dose as of March 7, 2022.
To boost protection against the virus, the government commenced booster vaccinations for the general public on January 12.
Related news: Some 11.94 million Indonesians received third dose of COVID-19 vaccine
Translator: Gilang Galiartha, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
