As many as 21 million Indonesians were included in the target group for booster vaccination or the third dose of COVID-19 vaccine as an antibody booster, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated.
“President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had decided to start the booster vaccination program on January 12, 2022,” Sadikin noted during a press statement regarding the evaluation of Community Activity Restriction (PPKM) here Monday.
The minister later explained that the booster vaccine will be administered to adults over 18 years of age in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO).
In addition, other provisions for the implementation of booster vaccination are targeting districts and cities that have met the criteria for 70 percent of the first dose of vaccination and 60 percent for the second dose of COVID-19 vaccination, he noted.
“Hence, until now, 244 districts and cities have met these criteria,” he stated.
The minister noted that the booster vaccination will be given after six months since the second dose was administered to the recipient.
Based on the results of identification as of January 2022, some 21 million people were able to receive the booster vaccination, Sadikin noted.
The brand of booster vaccine may differ from the first and the second dose, but it does not rule out the possibility that vaccine recipients will receive the same booster vaccine brands as their previous doses.
“Hopefully, a decision would be taken on January 10, 2022, after recommendations from the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI) and the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) are issued,” he affirmed.
Based on the Health Ministry’s data as of Monday, some 166,104,331, or 79.76 percent of the people received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccination, 114,196,339 people received the second dose, and 1,288,839 people comprising health officers had received the third shot.
Source: Antara News