Jakarta (ANTARA) – Acceleration of COVID-19 booster vaccinations is part of the efforts to increase protection for people during the Eid homecoming exodus period, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health Siti Nadia Tarmizi stated.
During a discussion themed “Balada Booster dan Mudik Lebaran” (the Ballad of Booster and Eid Homecoming Exodus) here on Thursday, she noted that the community should understand that the policy to use booster vaccination as an exodus requirement is not a burden for people keen to join the Eid homecoming exodus.
“Actually, booster (vaccination) is one of our efforts to increase protection, because we know, as previously stated, the number of people, who will join the exodus is very large,” she pointed out.
Earlier, President Joko Widodo had stated that the number of people, who will join the 2022 Eid homecoming exodus, is projected to reach 85 million.
She noted that with the high number of people scheduled to travel, the risk of COVID-19 transmission would increase.
The spokesperson remarked that exodus activities would involve older adults, people with comorbidities, as well as children under the age of six. Thus, those three vulnerable groups should be protected through vaccinations.
According to Tarmizi, the trend of booster vaccinations had been increasing, from earlier 300-400 thousand people getting the booster dose in one day, to 700-760 thousand people per day.
Earlier, President Widodo had emphasized that people would be allowed to join the Eid al-Fitr exodus if they had completed the primary vaccination and received the booster dose against COVID-19.
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The president also noted that every exodus activity should be conducted in strict adherence to COVID-19 health protocols.
As part of the efforts to boost community immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government had rolled out a nationwide vaccination program targeting 208,265,720 citizens on January 13, 2021.
According to the Health Ministry’s data, as of April 7, 2022, nearly 197,243,959 Indonesians have received their first COVID-19 jab, 160,983,733 have been fully vaccinated, and 25,719,265 have received the booster shot.
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