VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The number of Indonesian citizens who have received two vaccine doses or have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 crossed 128 million on Tuesday, the COVID-19 Handling Task Force reported.

According to the task force data received here on Tuesday, the number of people receiving the second dose rose by 627,615 on Tuesday, taking the total number of fully vaccinated people to 128,655,689.

Meanwhile, the number of people receiving the first dose under the national COVID-19 vaccination program rose by 440,655 to reach 185,121,652.

In addition, the total number of third dose recipients reached 289,918.

The Indonesian government is targeting to inoculate 208,265,720 citizens to achieve community or herd immunity.

So far, the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to 88.89 percent of the 208,265,720 targeted recipients, as per data from the task force.

Meanwhile, the data shows that the number of citizens who have been fully immunized against the virus has reached 61.77 percent of the total target.

As for the third dose, so far, 2.17 percent of targeted recipients have received the booster shot.

Earlier, spokesperson for COVID-19 Vaccinations for the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, had reminded the community of the importance of scaling up COVID-19 vaccinations, especially among older adults.

"Vaccinations for older adults must be expedited, especially amid the increase in cases," she explained.

Tarmizi emphasized the importance of all parties supporting the acceleration of COVID-19 vaccinations for older adults as they are the most vulnerable to the virus.

The Indonesian government is targeting to vaccinate as many as 21,553,118 older adults in the country. So far, just 15,705,477 older adults in Indonesia have been given the first dose. Meanwhile, for the second dose, the number of recipients has reached 10,394,841.

It is known that older adults have a higher risk of developing severe symptoms and fatality when infected with COVID-19, Tarmizi said. According to a report from the task force, 46.8 percent of patients who have died from COVID-19 in Indonesia have been older adults, he added. (antaranews)