VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Presidential Special Staff Angkie Yudistia (in the middle). (ANTARA/Naufal Fikri Yusuf) - 

The Indonesian government has continued to push and encourage COVID-19 vaccinations for people with disabilities in a bid to achieve herd immunity against the virus, Presidential Special Staff Angkie Yudistia stated.

"(This is to ensure that) no citizen is left behind in the nation's COVID-19 vaccination program. In a bid to achieve herd immunity, the government keeps pushing vaccinations for persons with disabilities," Yudistia noted here, Thursday.

According to the Presidential Special Staff, for the national COVID-19 vaccination program, President Joko Widodo has received 450 thousand doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through its president.

"Our target is to administer the Sinopharm vaccines to 225 thousand persons with disabilities in the six provinces comprising West Java, Central Java, East Java, Yogyakarta, and Bali. Meanwhile, for other persons with disabilities (outside the quota of 225 thousand vaccines), they will receive vaccines from other brands that are available at community health centers or other health facilities," she expounded.

Yudistia remarked that the first-dose vaccination for people with disabilities had reached 94 percent of the target recipients.

"The figure shows that we are getting closer to the target. Second-dose vaccinations are also still ongoing," she noted.

On the occasion, Yudistia remarked that in addition to access to COVID-19 vaccination, people with disabilities also get access to education since it is a basic need.

According to Yudistia, the central government continues to innovate through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology and the Ministry of Youth and Sports to provide Focus Group Discussions that discuss the provision of inclusive schools for persons with disabilities.

"Currently, the Ministry of Education continues to finalize a derivative regulation from the Government Regulation on proper accommodation for students, so that this regulation become a derivative regulation that can reach persons with disabilities," the special staff explained//ANT