The government’s determination and the steps taken to strengthen testing, tracing, isolation, treatment, as well as speeding up vaccinations should be appreciated, supported and maintained.
By
KOMPAS EDITOR
·3 minutes read
The government’s determination and the steps taken to strengthen testing, tracing, isolation, treatment, as well as speeding up vaccinations should be appreciated, supported and maintained.
If this is done consistently, it is hoped that the COVID-19 pandemic can be controlled.
To improve testing and tracing, the Health Ministry distributed 2 million antigen testing kits across 34 provinces. On top of this, the ministry distributed 1.7 million equipment for 78 cities/regencies in 7 provinces of Java and Bali.
How important is testing, tracing and isolation (TLI)? According to epidemiologist Dicky Budiman, three factors determine the success of a vaccine disrupting transmission, namely high efficacy, low transmission curve or viral reproduction rate and wide vaccination coverage. To suppress the transmission curve, the virus must be inhibited. This can be done though massive testing and the tracing of people who have had close contact with those who have COVID-19, and then isolating those who do test positive for COVID-19, as well as treating those who are symptomatic.
Next week, vaccinations for public service workers will begin. Local administrations have been asked to prepare accelerated management of vaccinations so that the target coverage and herd immunity is achieved.
Vaccinations must be carried out quickly and widespread. This is related to the duration of immunity, namely how long the antibodies triggered by the vaccine last in the body. In contrast to other vaccines that have been tested for years before being released to the public – whose duration of resistance is known – we do not know the duration of the antibodies from the COVID-19 vaccine. Therefore, it is important to reach the target vaccination coverage immediately, before the people who have been vaccinated already begin to show signs of declining or depleting immunity. If that occurs, the vaccination goal will not be met.
The target coverage of 181.5 million people, according to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, has already considered the efficacy of vaccines and the need to achieve herd immunity. However, much attention must be paid to the recommendations of the Indonesian Internal Medicine Specialists Association (PAPDI) regarding who is eligible and ineligible to be vaccinated due to comorbidities or certain health conditions. We cannot allow these efforts to cause more damage. It is necessary to consider how many cannot be vaccinated so that the coverage target is met.
On another note, researchers fear that the new mutated variant of SARS-CoV-2 could trick the antibodies triggered by the vaccination. Therefore, it is important for both vaccinated and non-vaccinated people to adhere to health protocols until the pandemic is under control.
Vaccination is only part of the effort to control the pandemic. The cooperation of all stakeholders including the community – openness if one has tested positive, government aid during isolation – is necessary to win the battle against the novel coronavirus, which has been covertly pushing Indonesia into a remote corner.