We still have a lot of homework to accomplish soon
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government needs to step up the third dose vaccination as part of efforts to prevent a domestic COVID-19 case spike, according to an epidemiologist.

“We still have a lot of homework to accomplish soon. It is important for Indonesia to build herd immunity through the third dose vaccination,” said Dicky Budiman of Griffith University in Australia, when contacted from Jakarta on Thursday.

The low third dose COVID-19 vaccination rate is one of the factors causing COVID19 cases to increase again, he said.

“As long as the public protection rate is not high, there will be a spike and vulnerability.”

According to Budiman, antibodies formed after the second dose of COVID-19 vaccines, with an interval of four to six months, will tend to decline.

On the other hand, he said the potential for COVID-19 reinfection is still open due to the declining antibodies among residents who have not received third doses.

“This is not awkward. The majority of the population have not received booster doses. That is one of the reasons that make the case happen again,” he said.

According to the COVID-19 Handling Task Force on Thursday, the number of Indonesian people receiving the third dose of COVID-19 vaccine reached 47,212,227 or 22.67 percent of the population that has become the target of COVID-19 vaccinations.

He said the recent increase in COVID-19 cases can relatively be kept under control.

“In case of a spike, it will not be as large as the previous years,” he said.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health Mohamad Syahril has said that the 31 percent increase in COVID-19 cases in the last three weeks was still deemed reasonable and under control by health officials.

Earlier on Wednesday, the COVID-19 Handling Task Force reported that Indonesia's weekly COVID-19 cases have increased by 31 percent, a jump of 500 cases.

"We are still in the midst of a pandemic. It means the virus is still present among us, and it may have the potential to infect or re-infect people who have contracted COVID-19 before," Syahril said.

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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi. Suharto
Editor: Sri Haryati
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