A spokesperson for COVID-19 Vaccination from the Indonesian Health Ministry Siti Nadia Tarmizi affirmed that her side continues to encourage vaccination in areas with plural conditions.

“We are starting to pursue vaccination in plural areas with their own challenges,” Tarmizi stated during a dialogue on vaccination continuity here on Wednesday.

The spokesperson later explained that the Indonesian government had administered the first dose of vaccine to 67 percent of the community. Hence, 33 percent of the people must immediately receive the vaccination.

While administering vaccination in plural areas, Tarmizi admitted that they were facing several challenges, such as geographical location, availability of transportation, and access for people living in villages to reach vaccination sites.

In Maluku Province, people at times had to navigate through rivers or the sea to receive vaccination provided by the government, she noted.

“Vaccine distribution is also a challenge to expedite vaccination coverage. We encounter problems in terms of the geographical location and transportation,” she noted.

In view of the several challenges faced in expanding vaccination coverage to remote areas, she emphasized that it is important for the public to not be picky about the vaccine brands available in Indonesia.

Vaccination must be pursued immediately on account of the emergence of the new Omicron variant. However, this new variant is reported to have no impact on increasing the severity of symptoms in vaccinated people.

Hence, Tarmizi urged the public to immediately get vaccinated to prevent severe illness due to the new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

“Although we know several aspects still need to be researched for the vaccine, it nonetheless offers significant protection and benefits to the people,” Tarmizi added.

 

Source: Antara News

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Proper planning can optimize disaster mitigation: BNPB

Proper planning can help optimize and bolster disaster mitigation, the primary secretary of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said in a written statement posted on BNPB’s official website on Tuesday evening.

“In order to realize this, formulating quality and directed planning is necessary to resolve dynamic environmental challenges,” he said.

Disaster mitigation planning should be done in accordance with the conditions in each region by evaluating previous activities, with the aim to reduce disaster risk, he said.

“Provincial, district, city, regional disaster mitigation agencies (BPBD) should evaluate their implemented policies in order to know whether they are accurate, should they be continued, or should they be revised,” he elaborated.

The current priority in disaster mitigation is reducing the risk of a disaster since that can greatly affect material loss and loss of life, he said during the BNPB-BPBD’s Technical Coordination Meeting in Surabaya, East Java.

“Reducing the risk of disasters, or pre-disasters activities, is a form of investment. We would not lose anything despite the fact that we spend a lot,” he said.

Many studies indicate that US$1 spent on reducing disaster risk can save US$7, Kurniawan highlighted.

The Technical Coordination Meeting on disaster mitigation planning is being held from November 29 to December 3, 2021, to discuss regional activities planning in 2023.

The meeting will feature speakers from the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Domestic affairs.

It will also host speakers from BPBD and regional government organizations from provinces in the eastern region: North Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, Gorontalo, North Maluku, Maluku, West Papua, and Papua.

 

Source: Antara News