The Bantul Government, Yogyakarta, is offering the third dose of COVID-19 vaccination for the community, with priority accorded to the elderly and state civil servants working in public service, at the local Health Office’s yard.

“Today, we are kicking off booster vaccination or the third (dose of) vaccination as an implementation of the presidential instruction through the Health Ministry. We want to ensure that the community’s immunity is strong,” Abdul Halim Muslih, head of Bantul District, noted in Bantul on Monday.

Muslih emphasized the dire need to administer the third dose of COVID-19 vaccination to boost the immunity of people prone to getting infected, especially amid the new threat posed by the recently surfaced Omicron variant.

The district head was grateful, as no reports of Omicron had yet been reported in Bantul.

Muslih noted that the first phase of the booster vaccine at the Bantul Health Service’s Vaccination Center was prioritized for public servants, health workers, as well as the general public, especially the elderly, who were susceptible to contracting the virus.

“At the same time, we motivate the general public. We encourage them to partake in booster vaccinations at the nearest public health centers. Hence, we open services at (those places), the Health Office, and all private-owned hospitals in Bantul,” he elaborated.

Head of the Bantul Health Office, Agus Budi Raharjo, affirmed that overall, Bantul will conduct this vaccination in accordance with the data of people that had received the second dose of vaccination, which was estimated at more than 667 thousand, with the figure expected to increase.

“It means that the booster vaccines would be that many, although it would be different in practice, as one of the requirements for the booster vaccine was that six months should have elapsed since having taken the second dose of vaccine to meet (the condition) to be vaccinated, and gradually (more people will be vaccinated),” he concluded.

Source: Antara News