Jakarta (ANTARA) – A member of the Immunization Task Force of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), Mei Neni Sitaresmi, has stressed the importance of vaccinating children against COVID-19 to protect them from new variants, especially Omicron.

“We need to be more careful with the emergence of the new (COVID-19) variant called Omicron. According to reports, this variant is more contagious, and we are so concerned because children are more vulnerable to the Omicron variant,” she said at an online press conference, accessed from here on Friday.

Based on data provided by the COVID-19 Task Force, around 10 to 12 percent of Indonesians testing positive for COVID-19 are children aged 6–18 years, with more than 500 thousand children contracting the virus and more than one thousand children succumbing to it, she noted.

“If we look at the number of deaths, as of now, the number is more than one thousand (children); it’s not a small number,” Sitaresmi said.

She then called for the protection of children by immunizing them against COVID-19, saying the right to live, grow, and develop is among children’s rights.

Protecting children from getting infected is essential because, if children get infected, they could also be a source of transmitting the virus to people around them, she explained.

“Some children infected with COVID-19 experience mild symptoms. However, it must be underlined that children can be a source of transmission for those around them,” she stressed.

As part of efforts to build community immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021.

Recently, the country began vaccinating children in the 6–11 age group after Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin issued Ministerial Decree Number HK.01.07/MENKES/6688/2021 on the implementation of COVID-19 Vaccinations for Children aged 6–11 years.

Source: Antara News