The one that we have to increase is booster, hence we are educating the people so that they can (get better protection).
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The policy to expedite booster vaccinations in Indonesia is expected to push booster coverage to 70 percent of the target population, Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, has said.

"I observed that, across the world, there is no country that has managed to reach 100 percent (vaccination target)," he informed after the launch of the SatuSehat Platform here on Tuesday.

"Honestly, there is no way that can be achieved. What is important is reaching above 70 percent," he added.

In the past 15 months, a total of 205 million Indonesians have been vaccinated against COVID-19, with the number of vaccines administered reaching 410 million doses.

"The one that we have to increase is booster, hence we are educating the people so that they can (get better protection)," he remarked.

According to the Ministry of Health's COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, the booster dose coverage stood at 26.38 percent or equivalent to 54.9 million of the 208 million targeted recipients on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the coverage for the second dose reached 81.57 percent or equivalent to 169.8 million recipients and the first dose coverage was recorded at 97.12 percent or equivalent to 202 million doses.

According to Sadikin, the protection provided by booster vaccines can prevent a SARS-CoV-2 virus infection from becoming worse so that patients do not have to undergo intensive treatment at hospitals.

Booster vaccines have become an important protection, in addition to compliance with the health protocols, following the discovery of new variants, such as the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants that are currently dominating in Indonesia, he said.

In addition, three Omicron BA.2.75 subvariants have been detected in domestic travelers.

"We identified that there are three BA.2.75 patients. One, a tourist, is in Bali, while two are in Jakarta. The infections were local in nature," the minister informed.

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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Fadhli Ruhman
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