At least 66.86 million Indonesians have received the third dose or first booster of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Thursday, according to the COVID-19 Handling Task Force.
As per the task force’s data, the number of first booster recipients grew by 237,450 on Thursday, taking the total tally to 66,862,019.
Meanwhile, the number of second dose recipients rose by 119,410 to 174,239,124, and the number of first dose recipients was recorded at 203,715,848.
Then, the number of fourth dose or second booster recipients–mainly health workers—increased by 68,288 to 863,582 on Thursday.
As part of efforts to boost community immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021. President Joko Widodo was the first vaccine recipient under the program.
The government is targeting to vaccinate as many as 234,666,020 people against the virus.
According to the Ministry of Health, the government is currently focusing on increasing the coverage of the first booster dose vaccination, which is currently still low.
“Of course, there is a 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.
Regarding the plan for providing a second booster to the general public, Rondonuwu said that all parties must first focus on increasing the coverage of the first booster, which, so far, has reached 38 percent while the target is 50 percent at least.
Nevertheless, 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.
Currently, 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 (Polri) and the Indonesian Military (TNI), he said.
Source: Antara News