Booster Shot Mandatory for Attending Events, Travel: Indonesian Senior Minister

KOMPAS.com – Indonesia will make a Covid-19 booster dose mandatory for travelers and people attending crowded events in the community, a senior minister said on Monday, July 4.

“The third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine will be mandatory for attending varieties of events and travel,” said Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto in a televised message via the Presidential Secretariat’s official YouTube channel.

Airlangga said that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has ordered that vaccination centers will be made available in the Indonesian airports to increase vaccination coverage.

“The Covid-19 vaccine booster shots will be provided at the airports following President’s directive today,” he said.

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Airlangga said that the decision was taken due to the level of second dose coverage which currently is still under 50 percent of the targeted population in Java and Bali. While the third dose coverage is still below 20 percent of the targeted population.

“Other areas outside Java and Bali that also reach below 50 percent of second dose coverage and 20 percent of third dose coverage are Maluku, Papua, and West Papua,” he said.

Covid-19 restrictions on public activities outside Java, Bali

The government has extended the Covid-19 restrictions on public activities (PPKM) outside Java and Bali to August 1.

On these two islands, the Covid-19 level 1 restrictions will cover 385 regencies/cities, while the only regency that has been declared as the Covid-19 level 2 restrictions is Sorong in West Papua.

Also read: Indonesians Urged to Get Covid-19 Boosters as Two New Omicron Sub-Variants Spread

As of July 3, Indonesia recorded 1,614 confirmed cases, or below the World Health Organization’s (WHO) standard of five percent. The number brings the total tally to 6,093,917 confirmed cases since the first two cases in March 2020.

He said 1,579 confirmed cases in Java and Bali represent 95 percent of the total numbers. Meanwhile, outside Java and Bali, there are only 35 cases of 4.07 percent. The highest daily number of the confirmed cases was found in South Kalimantan and North Sumatra.

State news Antara reported the number of patients who have recovered from the virus has increased by 1,606, bringing the total to 5,920,249. The number of deaths reached 156,749.
As for vaccinations, the government has provided the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccination to 201,565,306 people, the second dose to 169,117,557 people, and the booster shot to 50,916,428 people. The booster coverage has only reached 24.5 percent of the targeted recipients.

(Writer: Wasti Samaria Simangunsong | Editor: Nabilla Tashandra)

Source: https://travel.kompas.com/read/2022/07/04/161031227/vaksin-booster-akan-jadi-syarat-perjalanan-dan-kegiatan-masyarakat.