Jakarta The Indonesian Government needs to target vaccination coverage of 100 percent so that no one is left out of efforts toward building herd immunity against COVID-19, an epidemiologist from the University of Indonesia has said.

“In my opinion, the target of 70 percent is a miss, so 100 percent (vaccination coverage is necessary). All citizens must have immunity, do not leave (out) the other 30 percent,” Pandu Riono remarked during a webinar on ‘Preparing to Live in Endemic,’ accessed from here on Saturday.

According to Riono, while the government can set the target much higher than 70 percent, the 100-percent goal is feasible.

“However, if you look at the survey in November and December 2021, the immunity level of the Indonesian population is already high,” he noted.

Ninety percent of the population already has immunity, he said. The agglomeration areas of Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi have the highest immunity level because of high vaccination rates or due to many people getting infected with COVID-19.

However, there is still about 15 percent of the population that has never been infected nor vaccinated against COVID-19, he pointed out.

“The 15-percent group does not have protection to the body and this is dangerous,” he explained.

This can also worsen the risk of fatality among the elderly and those with chronic comorbid diseases, he cautioned.

Even though the severity of infection caused by the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is not as high as the Delta variant, vaccination coverage must continue to be bolstered and targeted at all communities, he stressed.

“If we want to end the pandemic, the population immunity must be improved. If you can do all of it, why 70 percent? The target must be done at the highest and quickest if we want to be the first country in the world or in the Asian region to end the pandemic,” Riono said.

Source: Antara News