Jakarta – Indonesia has been witnessing a declining rate of new COVID-19 infections, which should be treated as an opportunity to accelerate mass vaccination in the regions.
Accelerating vaccination is also pivotal to minimizing the impact of the new variant that could reach the country at any time. It is thought that many people have delayed getting vaccinated as a result of the seemingly under control pandemic situation. In response to this, the Health Ministry's COVID-19 vaccination spokeswoman Siti Nadia Tarmizi acknowledged there had been a decreasing number of daily vaccinations. "The current stable condition has led to people postponing vaccination. They are now waiting to get vaccinated with a certain brand of vaccine" said Nadia in a discussion held at Media Centre on Wednesday.
Nadia then asked people to stop favoring one brand of vaccine over the others, insisting that the efficacy and the safety of all vaccines were guaranteed. "The efficacy of all vaccines is proven. Side effects after being vaccinated are common as the vaccine is training our body to stimulate the immune system," Nadia, a physician herself, said. When asked about the vaccines' capability against the new variant, Nadia said the vaccines could prevent people from being severely affected by the new variant. She acknowledged that there was still much to be studied regarding the efficacy, but the protective effect of the vaccine would remain high and offer huge benefits.
Apart from that, she added, the more people who got vaccinated the better, as it would form a collective immunity that would protect people from the new variant. To date, the vaccination rate for the first jab has reached 67 percent, and 46 percent for the second one. The government still needs to boost the vaccination rate for the elderly as only 53 percent of this group has received a first jab. To accelerate vaccination for the elderly, the government has become more proactive and initiated a door-to-door system and integrated health services for the elderly.
She went on to say that the government had also continued to raise awareness and boost literacy, so that the elderly would want to get vaccinated. Religious and public figures and the media have been included in the awareness-raising. Medical staff have also been briefed to disseminate true information.
Nadia had also corrected the wrong perception that the condition of elderly people with comorbidities would deteriorate after being vaccinated. On the contrary, she added, their immunity would receive a huge boost through vaccination.
West Sumatra Communication, Informatics and Statistic Agency head Jasman said the widely circulating hoaxes were the biggest challenge for regional vaccination drives. To tackle the hoaxes and some cultural disruptions, his agency prioritized some informal approaches, involving religious leaders and local figures and all related institutions, including providing education on the importance of vaccination through mass media and pupils.
"Every region has its own way that is accustomed to the local wisdom," she said. He added that it was easier to organize vaccination in remote places with less mobile residents than in regions with a large number of highly mobile residents.
Jasman praised all related parties that had thrown their support behind the accelerated vaccination program, specifically health workers and vaccinators as the first line of defense. He said everybody's hard work in the last two months had boosted the number of vaccinations in the region significantly. He acknowledged that the controlled pandemic situation was the right opportunity to speed up vaccinations. The main reason for this was that many of the health workers and vaccinators could focus on the vaccination drive. Besides that, Dirga Sakti Rambe, an internist and vaccinator, said "A study has proven that the vaccines' efficacy will be optimum during the low infection season. This is a good window for us to expand the scope of our vaccination drive when infections are under control," he said.
Regarding booster vaccinations, Dirga said according to the WHO guideline, booster vaccinations should be administered after considering several conditions, such as the national vaccination scope and the field condition. He asked people to wait, while still protecting themselves by maintaining health protocol discipline. Given the fact that many countries sought additional vaccines, it would be unwise for people to postpone getting vaccinated. He asked people to prioritize getting vaccinated and not to let it to waste.
"Even when we are in low infection season, there is always a potential for increasing cases, specifically related to mass mobility during the Christmas and New Year holidays. We need to be alert as well for the new variants that have spread to various countries. Therefore, people must maintain health protocol discipline, obeying the public activity restrictions (PPKM) in respective regions and optimizing protection by getting vaccinated," he said.