Children are part of the population that must be protected. The EUA (emergency use authorization) issued by BPOM (Food and Drug Control Agency) to administer booster vaccine to youth aged 16-18 years is good news that the Health Ministry must soon fo
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Youth in the age bracket of 16-18 years should have immediate access to booster vaccination, according to member of the House of Representatives' (DPR's) Commission IX Elva Hartarti.

"Children are part of the population that must be protected. The EUA (emergency use authorization) issued by BPOM (Food and Drug Control Agency) to administer booster vaccine to youth aged 16-18 years is good news that the Health Ministry must soon follow up by administering booster doses to them," she noted in a written statement received in Jakarta on Friday.

The administration of booster doses to children aged 16-18 years is important since the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing. In fact, new variants of COVID-19 continue to emerge, she stated.

Vaccination, including booster shots, is an essential part of the COVID-19 handling efforts and has proven effective in reducing the mortality rate and severity due to COVID-19, Hartarti emphasized.

However, the House member affirmed that booster vaccine has not been a prerequisite for children to attend offline learning, though added that it was crucial for children aged six years and above to have received the first and second shots of the COVID-19 vaccine.

A total of 57.4 million Indonesians have received the first booster or the third vaccine dose against COVID-19 infections as of Sunday (Aug 7, 2022) at noon, according to the COVID-19 Handling Task Force.

Indonesia recorded the addition of 323,760 new recipients of the booster dose in a single day on Sunday, the task force stated.

The country has set a target of providing COVID-19 vaccine shots to a total of 208,265,720 people. Hence, the country's first booster vaccination has covered some 27.58 percent of its total target of COVID-19 vaccine recipients.

As many as 170,298,804 Indonesian people, or 81.77 percent of the total target, had received the second vaccine dose so far, or an increase of 48,126 from the previous day.

The number of people, who received the first vaccine shot, reached 202,735,128, or 97.34 percent of the total target, or an increase of 47,630 people from that recorded on Saturday.

Booster doses provide additional immunity when the immune response from the first two vaccine doses decreases over time.

The second booster is given at an interval of six months after the administration of the first booster.

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Translator: Boyke Ledy W, Suharto
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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