The COVID-19 Vaccination Program : Has Indonesia reached the target?
Indonesia has started the COVID-19 vaccination program since January 13 2021. There are four stages of vaccine administration depend on the priority groups. The first stage is aimed for health care workers, including clinical clerkship students who are rotating at the healthcare facilities. The second stage is aimed for public officers and elderly. The third stage is aimed for vulnerable people from social and economy background. The last stage is aimed for citizens in general depends on the vaccine’s availability.
More than 80% of healthcare workers (HCWs) have been vaccinated the first and second dose of vaccine. The inactivated virus vaccine, Sinovac, was used and showed around 94–98% of efficacy among HCWs to prevent COVID-19 symptoms, severity, hospitalization, and death from the 28th day of the second dose of vaccine administration.
Now Indonesia has moved to the second stage of vaccination program. This stage has started from mid February 2021. However, the percentage of elderly getting vaccinated in each provinces is very low. Even in some provinces, such as West Java, only 8.08% of elderly received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 4.99% of elderly received the second dose of vaccine.
The Indonesian Government should evaluate the COVID-19 vaccination program in order to reach the COVID-19 vaccination target in every provinces in Indonesia.
They also should evaluate which provinces are lack of vaccinators, which regions have the most amount of elderly or vulnerable people, the reasons why only small percentage of elderly get vaccinated, the issues circulating about COVID-19 vaccines that decrease vaccine acceptance in the community, and the reasons why the percentage of public officers get vaccinated in some regions is higher than elderly.
Let’s get vaccinated. Stay safe people.
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