Vaccination Information for Elderly People Limited

KOMPAS/YOLA SASTRA

Elderly people get an injection of the Covid-19 vaccine in a mass vaccination at Pasar Raya Padang, West Padang, West Sumatra, Thursday (4/3/2021).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Information regarding the flow of registration and requirements that must be fulfilled before a Covid-19 vaccine is given to elderly people or lansia is still limited. This leads to confusion among many elderly people with regard to accessing these services.

Chairperson of the Indonesian Women\'s Congress (Kowani) Giwo Rubianto Wiyogo in the "Covid-19 Talk, Covid-19 Vaccination for the Elderly", on Thursday (4/3/2021), in Jakarta, emphasized that many elderly people do not receive information clearly related to Covid-19 vaccination. As a result, they are confused about accessing vaccinations, even though this group is vulnerable to contracting Covid-19.

"The high enthusiasm of the elderly community for vaccination needs to be balanced with clear and correct information. Currently, there are still many questions related to vaccination, especially regarding registration and vaccination requirements for the elderly," she said.

Also read: Help the Elderly Access COVID-19 Vaccines

Elderly people in Jakarta have various ways to register for the Covid-19 vaccination, which can only be accessed online. There are those who go to health facilities. There are also those who ask for assistance from an ojek driver. Not all elderly citizens can operate cell phones to register for vaccinations online.

At the Grogol Petamburan District Health Center, West Jakarta, Thursday (4/3), elderly people chose to queue at a security post instead of reading the online registration guide. Sulistriyono (60), for example, demanded community health center (puskesmas) officers to register himself as a vaccination recipient. He admitted that he was not familiar with registering via an online form on the dki.kemkes.go.id page.

The high enthusiasm of the elderly community for vaccination needs to be balanced with clear and correct information.

Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) head of advocacy team for vaccination Iris Rengganis said that a number of requirements to get a vaccine shot must be considered, including elderly people with comorbid or controlled comorbidities, elderly people with blood pressure below 180/110 mmHg and body temperature below 37.5 degrees Celsius.

HERSY SOUHUWAT

An elderly person in Ambon City, Maluku, received a Covid-19 vaccination injection on Tuesday (2/3/2021). It is targeted that around 8,000 elderly in the city will receive vaccinations.

The government is targeting 181.5 million people to be vaccinated over 12 months, with 21.5 million of them elderly citizens. As of 4 March, only 160,319 elderly people have received the first dose of the vaccine and two people have received two complete doses.

Health Ministry director general of health services, Abdul Kadir, said that the elderly were prioritized because they are vulnerable. At least 10.7 percent of Covid-19 cases in Indonesia come from the elderly group. In addition, 47.3 percent of deaths due to Covid-19 were elderly residents.

"The government is targeting the second phase of vaccination, which also targets the elderly, to be completed in June 2021 at the latest. Vaccination for the elderly is given twice and the interval between first and second injection is 28 days," he said.

The government is targeting the second phase of vaccination, which also targets the elderly, to be completed in June 2021 at the latest.

Registration

Vaccination spokesperson from the Health Ministry, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that vaccination for the elderly was still limited in a number of areas according to the availability of vaccines. Vaccinations for the elderly has only been held in Jakarta and 33 other provincial capitals.

Also read: Vaccinations for the Elderly Need Improvement

The total vaccine distributed to the regions is 12 million doses, so it can only target 6 million people. Elderly residents are expected to wait for the vaccination schedule from the government.

Nadia said that vaccination for the elderly needs to be well prepared. The mechanism for the registration and implementation of vaccinations must be clear. Various misinformation makes the elderly people confused and implementation in the field was disrupted.

KOMPAS/ADITYA DIVERANTA

Residents queue at the Covid-19 vaccination post at the Kembangan Regional General Hospital (RSUD), West Jakarta, Wednesday (3/3/2021).

Meanwhile, the provision of the Covid-19 vaccine for elderly people in Papua Province will be held next week because it is still focusing on vaccination for health workers. A total of 35,000 doses of vaccine arrived in Southeast Sulawesi for the second phase of vaccination, including the elderly.

In Semarang City, a number of puskesmas are not rigid in administering Covid-19 vaccination for the elderly. Even though the vaccination is scheduled every Saturday, the elderly who come to the puskesmas on other days are still served.

Also read: Post-Vaccination Events

In a virtual press statement, Thursday (4/3), President Joko Widodo said that the speed of vaccination drive is the key to controlling the transmission rate of Covid-19 and ending the pandemic. Because of this, regional administrations are asked to be more active in vaccinating.

The President asked residents not to worry about the entry of a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, namely B.1.1.7. "Two people who were exposed to the new variant are now negative. There has been no research that the new variant is more deadly. We have done together to prevent contracting the new variant virus," he said.

Chairman of Muhammadiyah, Haedar Nashir, called on people to support the vaccination program run by the government. Vaccination is a collective effort to control the transmission rate of Covid-19. (NTA/INA/TAN/JAL/FLO/ DIT/BRO/ETA/JOL/IKI/ DNE/DIB/HLN/COK/TAM/REN)

This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswoko.