We are focusing on administering the first booster, while also managing the second booster provision for health workers and the elderly who are also immunocompromised.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government is currently focusing on addressing the low coverage of the third dose or the first booster COVID-19 vaccination, the Health Ministry has informed.

"Of course, there is plan to give the second booster to the general public but right now, we are focusing on expediting the (administration of the) first booster," the ministry's Director General of Disease Prevention and Control, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, informed at the commemoration of World AIDS Day in Jakarta on Thursday.

Responding to the plan for providing a second booster to the general public, Rondonuwu stated that all parties must first focus on increasing the coverage of the first booster, which, so far, has reached 38 percent as against the target of 50 percent.

However, the government has discussed the provision of the second booster to the general public after the second booster vaccination for the elderly group is completed, he added.

At present, the government is trying to expedite the administration of the first booster by mapping areas where vaccination coverage is still low and distributing vaccines with the help of the National Police and the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI), he informed.

"We are focusing on administering the first booster, while also managing the second booster provision for health workers and the elderly who are also immunocompromised," he added.

Rondonuwu said that as part of efforts to increase the first booster coverage, the government has made the dose mandatory for travel.

The first and second boosters are equally important, especially for the elderly, he added.

Data from the ministry's evaluation in the past two months has shown that 60 percent of the people who died of COVID-19 comprised elderly people who had only been vaccinated once or not at all.

"Therefore, we are prioritizing the elderly in COVID-19 vaccinations to reduce the burden of bed occupancy ratio (BOR) in hospitals from patients with moderate and severe symptoms," he said.

With infections seemingly increasing ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays due to the emergence of the XBB variant, the number of daily cases is expected to surpass 10 thousand in the future, Rondonowu added.

Therefore, he urged all families to help elderly members complete their COVID-19 vaccination as well as increase testing and tracing to ensure community activities can run normally.

"The Health Ministry reminds the public to follow the health protocols and accelerate vaccination, especially for the elderly," he said.

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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma S, Resinta S
Editor: Sri Haryati
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