VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

After the second Covid-9 booster vaccine for the elderly and health workers was implemented at the end of last year, it is now the turn for the public to get a free booster vaccine starting Tuesday, January 24.

The target for giving the 2nd booster Covid-19 vaccine or the fourth dose is adults over the age of 18 years. This was announced by the Ministry of Health through Circular No. HK.02.02/C/380/2023 concerning the 2nd Booster Dose of COVID-19 Vaccination for General Public Groups which was signed by the Director-General of Disease Prevention and Control, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu on January 20, 2023. In the circular, it was stated that the vaccine used for the 2nd booster or fourth dose is a type of vaccine that has received approval or Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency -BPOM and is given at least 6 months after the community has received the first booster vaccine.

For this program, the government has allocated 9.3 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine stock to support the second booster dose vaccination program for the general public. As stated by the Head of the Communication and Public Service Bureau at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Siti Nadia Tarmizi in Jakarta, Monday (23/1) that the vaccine stock is stored at the center of 7.2 million doses and 2.1 million doses in the regions. The types of vaccines being prepared includethe Janssen, Pfizer, Sinopharm, Zifivaxvaccines and the remaining domestically produced Red-and-White vaccines, namelyInavacandIndovac.

To get this second booster vaccine, people do not have to wait for tickets or invitations, but they can go to the vaccination sites by looking at the location where the vaccination is located through the Health application. In addition, the acceleration of vaccination is to improve the protection of the Indonesian people from the possible threat of Covid-19.

In fact, after the revocation of the Community Activity Restrictions - PPKM by the President on December 30, 2022, the public are still advised to continue to follow the health protocols. This must be understood for the sake of environmental and individual health. The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic provide many lessons on the meaning of endurance as well as environmental and individual health and how to prevent them. Besides, stakeholders cannot remain silent even though the PPKM has been revoked, but they must also keep monitoring the spread and presence of Covid-19 although it is now considered a common cold. Because in China, the latest variant reportedly caused many fatalities. Therefore, in addition to giving the second booster, the government should continue to monitor the movement of migrants from abroad entering Indonesian territory. This aims at preventing the spread of the new variant of Covid-19.