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.