Recently, there was an issue about the COVID-19 booster vaccine program for the fourth dose. However, this was denied by the spokesperson for the COVID-19 vaccination of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Dr. Siti Nadia Tarmizi.
According to Dr. Nadia, for now the fourth dose of vaccination is not an urgent step. This is because the achievement of the third dose of vaccine has now only reached 10.2 million out of a total of 208 million people targeted.
“We emphasize that until now the government does not have a plan for the fourth vaccination. We know that only 10.2 million of the third vaccination received a booster vaccination from our target of 208 million,” explained Dr. Nadia in an online press conference, Tuesday (1/3/2020). 2022).
In his presentation, Dr. Nadia said that his party is currently focusing on pursuing the third vaccination target. In addition, he also emphasized that his party still has homework (PR) to complete the primary vaccination targets for doses one and two.
“The current government’s focus is on pursuing primary dose vaccination, completing the second dose of 22.8 million people who must be rushed, and the third vaccination target,” he explained.
Dr. Nadia revealed that some countries have already started to undergo the fourth dose of vaccination, especially for health workers and the elderly (elderly). However, to implement this discourse in Indonesia, it remains to be studied further.
According to Dr. Nadia, in terms of the number of people receiving the third dose of vaccination, there are currently not many people. So that it can not be seen how much effectiveness to immunogenicity.
In addition, Dr. Nadia assessed that the fourth vaccination has not become an urgency, because the current Omicron wave is different from the Delta wave. Therefore, he emphasized that there was no discourse for a fourth booster vaccine.
“We emphasize that there is no talk of a fourth booster vaccination. So, it feels like giving the fourth dose of vaccination to health workers is not something urgent,” he concluded.
(star/naf)
