Day: September 17, 2021

At least 23,602 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered to mall visitors in Bekasi, West Java, based on the results of local government’s monitoring at 17 vaccination outlets in the city’s shopping centers.

“We will continue to push it until the end of this month. And if the people’s enthusiasm is still high, it is not impossible that we will extend it,” Head of the Bekasi City Government’s Public Relations Office Sajekti Rubiah said here Friday.

She said tens of thousands of doses of the vaccine were given to visitors, the general public, and tenant employees at 17 malls in her area. The program involved 57 healthcare workers, 40 administrative personnel, as well as security personnel of each shopping center, she informed.

At the Bekasi Summarecon Mall, 1,599 people participated in the mass COVID-19 vaccination program through vaccination booths available at the mall, she said. Meanwhile the number of vaccine recipients stood at 1,034 at Grand Mal Bekasi and 726 at Courts Retail, she added.

Meanwhile, 353 people were inoculated at the Metropolitan Mall, 2,893 at Grand Metropolitan, 1,531 at Revo Town, 477 at Lagoon Avanue, 2,623 at Grand Galaxy Park, 2,333 at Bekasi Cyber Park, and 885 at Mega Bekasi, she disclosed.

Additionally, 885 people got the COVID-19 shot at Mega Bekasi Mall, 1,393 at Blu Plaza, 1,054 at Bekasi Trade Center, 627 at Transpark Juanda, 784 at Ciputra Cibubur Mall, 2,204 at Cibubur Plaza, 741 at Linc Square, and 2,345 at Pondok Gede Plaza, she added.

Rubiah said the vaccinations were ramped up following the issuance of Circular Letter of the Chairman of the Policy Committee for the Corona Virus Disease 2019 Handling and the Transformation of Economic Recovery in Bekasi City Number 443.1/1906/SET.COVID19 regarding the conduct of the COVID-19 vaccination program at vaccination booths at Bekasi city shopping centers.

“Vaccination at this mall is in order to accelerate the vaccination program as well as to create herd immunity, especially in the Bekasi city area,” she said.

The Bekasi City Government is committed to providing vaccination facilities at various locations to stem the spread of COVID-19 by building herd immunity, she added.

“Let residents who have not been vaccinated to immediately take advantage of vaccination outlets spread across Bekasi city, including at the vaccination outlets in shopping centers,” she said.

The effort to vaccinate Bekasi residents is in line with President Joko Widodo’s goal to vaccinate 70 percent of Indonesian citizens by the end of 2021, she noted.

Recently, during the UOB Economic Outlook 2022 virtual seminar, the President had revealed that 72.76 million people, or 34.94 percent of the population, had been vaccinated, thereby indicating Indonesia was half-way towards achieving its goal.

Source: Antara News

The vaccination rate in the elderly group in Indonesia is still low because of limited knowledge on comorbidities in this group, Health Ministry’s spokesperson for COVID-19 vaccinations Siti Nadia Tarmizi has said.

“There are still many elderly who are afraid to be vaccinated, because they have misunderstandings about comorbidities (which are leading them to believe) that (they) should not get vaccinated,” she told ANTARA in Jakarta on Friday.

As their knowledge of comorbidities is limited, the elderly are prone to be influenced by hoaxes and not participate in the vaccination program, she said.

“They are reluctant to get vaccinated because they got the wrong information,” she noted.

One such doubt pertains to whether the vaccines are halal or not, she explained. “They have doubts on whether it’s halal or haram, and are afraid of the side-effects,” she said.

Tarmizi stressed that all COVID-19 vaccines currently made available by the government are the best vaccines available and their safety is guaranteed.

Based on the vaccine dashboard of the Health Ministry on Friday afternoon, 27.05 percent, or more than 5.8 million of the 21,553,118 targeted recipients in the elderly age group have received the first vaccine dose. The second dose has been received by 19.07 percent or more than 4.1 million people.

However, this achievement still lags the vaccine coverage in the vulnerable and general public groups, which has reached 28.80 percent for the first dose and 14.62 percent of the 141 million targeted recipients.

The Health Ministry is trying to accelerate vaccination coverage for the elderly by involving community and religious leaders to educate them about vaccine safety, Tarmizi informed.

The ministry is also urging local governments to carry out ‘door-to-door’ vaccinations so that vaccination locations for the elderly can be reached geographically and economically, she said.

The minister has also been active in registering the elderly through the role of RT/RW and in collaboration with community organizations so that the elderly people can get assistance in reaching the nearest vaccination center, she added.

Source: Antara News

The Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry, along with the Health Ministry have encouraged local governments to accelerate the COVID-19 vaccination program for teachers to support the implementation of face-to-face learning (PTM).

In response to this, Minister of Communication and Informatics Johnny G. Plate emphasized that the government had appealed to local governments to complete the vaccination of teachers (PTK) and encourage the implementation of limited PTM.

“The PTK vaccination is not the sole determinant whether the school can conduct limited PTM. The main determinant is the level of PPKM applied in the school area. Parents still have the right to determine the best learning method for their children,” Plate noted in a press statement, Thursday.

According to the minister, schools located in areas where Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) levels 1-3 are applied can conduct limited PTM. Meanwhile, schools that have vaccinated teachers and their teaching staff are required to offer limited PTM as an alternative to Distance Learning (PJJ).

The minister explained that until now, only 40 percent of the education units in regions with PPKM levels 1, 2, and 3, have held limited PTM. In fact, 95 percent of education units actually can run limited PTM.

Furthermore, Plate noted that from the targeted 5.5 million teachers and education personnel, only Jakarta and Yogyakarta had vaccinated over 90 percent of their PTK, while other provinces were far below.

The minister noted that the central government needed the local government’s support for schools to immediately implement limited PTM in accordance with the Decree of the Four Ministers. Limited PTM is very important as prolonged PJJ can have a negative impact on Indonesian students.

“Prolonged PJJ can have an impact in the form of dropping out of school, decreased learning achievements, and the mental and psychological health of children being affected. In the long term, the risks to Indonesian children could be greater than the health risks,” he added.

Source: Antara News

Medical tourism will be launched in Surabaya City on September 27, 2021, following the decision in which Surabaya was selected as a pilot project for medical tourism along with Jakarta and Medan.

Surabaya Mayor Eri Cahyadi noted here Friday that the Surabaya city government had communicated and discussed with the rectors and the Indonesian Hospital Association (Persi) on Surabaya being selected as a pilot project for medical tourism.

“By God’s will, we will launch the program on September 27,” Cahyadi remarked.

The mayor believes that Surabaya being chosen as a pilot project for medical tourism will change the people’s tendencies of travelling abroad for medical services and instead go for a better option in Indonesia, especially health services in Surabaya.

“We have taken all steps. We just need to implement the 3G — gercep, geber, and gas pol (work fast) — that was highlighted by Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno,” he remarked.

Uno earlier noted that based on the available data, several residents of Surabaya had traveled abroad for their medical services.

Hence, he noted that Surabaya along with two other cities — Jakarta and Medan — were selected to be pilot projects for medical tourism in Indonesia.

“We have just established three cities as pilot projects for medical tourism. In the midst of this pandemic, it is the right time to reorganize,” Uno remarked.

He later stated that through medical tourism, the government was keen to encourage the medical industry in Indonesia, especially in Surabaya, to provide better services and human resources in the medical field. People are also expected to have wider options to meet their medical requirements through the launch of medical tourism.

Source: Antara News

Solid cooperation between countries is essential for battling the coronavirus pandemic, Minister of Communication and Informatics Johnny G. Plate has said.

“The COVID-19 pandemic situation is an uncertain and difficult situation for everyone in the world. No single country can fight this pandemic alone, so strong cooperation is needed, including between countries,” the minister remarked while receiving Indian Ambassador to Indonesia, Shri Manoj Kumar Bharti, at his official residence here on Thursday.

The government appreciates any aid received from abroad as a tangible form of solidarity, he said adding, Indonesia has close relations with several countries.

During the meeting, the minister highlighted the two focus areas of the government for dealing with the pandemic — the economic and health sectors.

In the economic sector, the Proud of Made-in Indonesia Products Movement is one of the steps that have been taken to accelerate national economic recovery, he said.

“We continue to encourage the strengthening and benefits of the digital economy because currently, the backbone of the Indonesian economy is MSMEs and Ultra Micro (Enterprises) that contribute 61.07 percent to Indonesia’s GDP,” he added.

The government has also permitted restaurants and shopping centers to reopen while following the rules for implementing restrictions on public activities, Plate said.

The government continues to strive to implement comprehensive policies to support national economic recovery, one of which is by making innovations in the technology sector and preparing digital talents to support the improvement of the digital economy, he added.

To secure public health, he said, the government is following a policy of implementing Public Activity Restrictions (PPKM) by taking into account the situation and conditions in each region.

“This (PPKM) aims to reduce the trend of spikes in new cases of the COVID-19 delta variant,” the minister explained.

Community compliance and discipline are the primary keys to reduce the level of accurate PPKM assessments, Plate said. According to data provided on the website covid19.go.id page, Indonesia’s positivity rate stood below 5 percent as of September 14, 2021.

“For this achievement, the government appreciates the efforts and hard work of all parties. However, I still urge all elements of the nation to remain disciplined, not be careless and complacent in the euphoria of decreasing positive cases of COVID-19,” Plate said.

Source: Antara News