Indonesia to Begin Covid-19 Booster Shots on Jan. 12

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has decided to start administering the third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine or a booster dose on Jan. 12.

This was brought up by the country’s Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin on Monday, Jan. 3.
Budi said that people aged 18 and over will be able to take the booster dose as it is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). The Covid-19 booster jabs can be done at the districts/cities with vaccination coverage of 70 percent for the first dose and 60 percent for the second dose.

“As of now, 244 regencies and cities have met the criteria. The Covid-19 booster jabs will be given six months after administering the second dose of the vaccine,” the minister said.

Also read: Merck’s Antiviral Covid-19 Pill to Arrive in Indonesia Today, Says Health Minister

The third dose booster vaccination aims to inoculate 21 million people in January. As for the type of vaccine, it will be based on the recommendation from the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) and the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI).

BPOM previously said that five types of Covid-19 vaccines were in the registration process for the booster jabs. The vaccines comprise Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Coronavac/PT Bio Farma Vaccine, Zifivax, and Sinopharm.

BPOM head Penny Lukito said that it is hoped that the data will be completed in the near future so BPOM will issue an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the vaccine.

She explained that clinical trials are being done for several Covid-19 vaccines which will be used for the booster jabs.

Indonesia has administered the first and the second Covid-19 vaccine dose to more than 166 million people and 114 million people, respectively.

As of today, the government recorded 265 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number to more than 4.2 million. A total of 144,102 people have died due to coronavirus in the country.

(Writer: Haryanti Puspa Sari | Editor: Ambaranie Nadia Kemala Movanita)

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2022/01/03/13182071/presiden-jokowi-putuskan-vaksinasi-booster-dimulai-12-januari-2022?page=all#page2.