"The Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture invites people to support the second booster dose vaccination program for the general public," the ministry's Deputy for Coordination of Health Quality Improvement and Population Development Agus Suprapto stated when contacted on Monday.
Suprapto explained that the second booster dose is provided to the general public aged 18 years and above starting on Tuesday, January 24, 2023. The community can get the dose without having to wait for the ticket to be issued in the PeduliLindungi application first.
Suprapto underlined that the second booster dose vaccination is essential for everyone, especially if they have comorbidities, to offer full protection and to reduce the hospitalization rate.
It can also prevent people from experiencing severe symptoms when infected with the virus.
"It needs to be a (matter of) concern that currently, we are still in a COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, we need to make a number of efforts to protect ourselves and our families from the risk of COVID-19 transmission, one of which is by getting the second booster vaccination," he stated.
He noted that the second booster dose is provided at an interval of six months following the first booster. The Ministry of Health has issued a circular on the provision of the second booster to the general public from January 24.
The circular was signed by the ministry's Director General of Disease Prevention and Control Maxi Rein Rondonuwu on Friday, January 20, 2023.
As part of the efforts to boost community immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021, targeting 234,666,020 citizens.
According to data provided by the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, as of January 23, 2023, as many as 204,184,380 Indonesians have received the first vaccine dose, 175,010,804 have been administered the second dose, and 69,215,619 have taken the third dose or first booster.
Meanwhile, 1,234,896 people comprising health workers and older adults have received the fourth dose or second booster.
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Translator: Wuryanti Puspitasari, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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