VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Photo archive. A student being vaccinated in Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta. (ANTARA PHOTOS/Sutarmi/my) - 

A total of 12,235 or 34.5 percent of 35,457 children aged six to 11 in Kulon Progo District, Yogyakarta, had received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Head of the district's health office, Sri Budi Utami, said.

"As of December 24, 2021, the COVID-19 vaccination rate for children in age bracket of 6-11 years old has reached 12,235 targets. We are optimistic that the vaccination rate can be higher because the cumulative from December 25-26 has yet to be included in (the manual report)," Utami, said in Kulon Progo on Sunday.

For the next five days, the Health Office, assisted by the Military, Police, regional State Intelligence Agency, and other related institutions such as the Muhammadiyah COVID-19 Command Center, would collaborate to vaccinate the targeted children, she said.

"We are optimistic that by the end of this year, the vaccination rate for children 6-11 years old can reach 100 percent of the total 35,457 targets," Utami remarked.

To this end, the Health Office had prepared a special team that would monitor adverse event following immunization among these children, she said, adding that the monitoring team would provide a telephone number that could be contacted immediately should there by any of these children who experience adverse event after COVID-19 immunization.

"The team personnel will take action quickly if needed, so that the (adverse event) of child vaccination can be minimized as much as possible," he said.

Spokesperson of Kulon Progo COVID-19 Task Force Baning Rahayujati said that overall, the first dose of vaccination had been administered to 311,224 people, or 82.3 percent of the total 378,177 targeted residents. As for the second dose, it had been jabbed to 264,646 people, or almost 70 percent of the vaccination target.

"We are trying to expedite the first and second doses of vaccine. Both are going on at the same time. We are also expediting COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 6-11 years old," Rahayujati added//ANT