Vaccination Coverage Remains Uneven

KOMPAS/KRISTIAN OKA PRASETYADI

A boy is given Covid-19 vaccine in Kleak, Malalayang, Manado, North Sulawesi, Wednesday (14/7/2021).

Vaccination is very important to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control. However, vaccination coverage in Indonesia is still uneven due to limited vaccine supply, among other factors.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Covid-19 vaccine distribution and coverage in Indonesia still remains uneven. Many healthcare workers in Papua, Maluku, Central Sulawesi and Gorontalo have not been vaccinated, while Jakarta, Bali and the Riau Islands have the highest public vaccination rate.

The country’s vaccine disparity has been highlighted in the World Health Organization (WHO) Covid-19 situation report for Indonesia, which was released on Wednesday (28/7/2021). Twenty percent of healthcare workers in Papua are still unvaccinated and 15 percent are unvaccinated in Maluku, while 10 percent of healthcare workers in both Gorontalo and Central Sulawesi are unvaccinated.

Other regions with a high number of unvaccinated healthcare workers are North Maluku, Aceh, Bengkulu, West Sulawesi, North Kalimantan, Jambi, West Papua and West Sumatra. The regions with the lowest vaccination coverage of elderly residents are Aceh, North Maluku and West Sumatra.

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On the other hand, Jakarta, Bali, Yogyakarta and the Riau Islands are a few of the regions that have the highest first-dose vaccination coverage rate among the elderly. In vaccination coverage for the second dose, Jakarta ranks first, followed by Yogyakarta, Bali and the Riau Islands.

Bali has the highest first-dose vaccination coverage for adults above 18, followed by Jakarta, the Riau Islands, Yogyakarta and North Sulawesi. The regions recording the highest second-dose vaccination coverage for adults above 18 are Jakarta, Bali, Yogyakarta, the Riau Islands and Central Kalimantan.

The Health Ministry’s vaccination spokeswoman, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said in Jakarta on Thursday (29/7) that Indonesia had received only 30 percent of the vaccine supply it needs, or 151.9 million doses out of 462 million doses.

ISTIMEWA/KEMENTERIAN KESEHATAN

The Health Ministry’s vaccination spokeswoman, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, in an online press conference on the progress of the completion of vaccination targets and the readiness of the Covid-19 vaccine, Sunday (3/1/2021).

Up to December 2021, Indonesia is to receive an additional 80 million vaccine doses. Meanwhile, the government has determined the priority scale for vaccine recipients in regions with a high number of cases.

Separately, Bio Farma’s Covid-19 vaccination spokesman, Bambang Heriyanto, said that the principle supply of Covid-19 vaccines were in secure and safe. The distribution of Covid-19 vaccines to all regions is being continuing at an accelerated pace.

At present, the vaccine bulk Bio Farma has received from Sinovac is enough to produce individual vials totaling 144.7 million doses. In August, Indonesia will receive 45 million Covid-19 vaccine doses from Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer.

Indigenous communities

Secretary-General Rukka Sombolinggi of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) also highlighted the issue of vaccine disparity, especially among indigenous communities. “The pandemic is currently spreading across the interior regions. Many traditional communities that were unaffected in the [first] wave are now being affected,” he said.

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Several reports indicate that transmission is occurring in indigenous communities, including among the Apau Kayan people in North Kalimantan, the indigenous communities in Aru in Maluku, in Kulawi and Morowali in Central Sulawesi, in Tana Toraja and North Toraja in South Sulawesi, and in Enggano in Bengkulu, as well as several traditional villages in Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan and East Kalimantan.

“A number of cases in family clusters have died in self-isolation because healthcare services are beyond their reach. But details on confirmed Covid-19 cases are unavailable, as testing and tracing are not properly conducted in remote areas,” Rukka said.

Access to vaccines is also limited. “Some traditional communities aren’t yet ready for vaccination. Many are enthusiastic, but the vaccines haven’t been supplied,” he added.

KOMPAS/RENY SRI AYU

ILLUSTRATION: The atmosphere of a traditional event at the Kajang Tribe Community, Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, 16 December 2018.

Indonesia has an indigenous population of 40-70 million people, including 20 million people who are members of AMAN. Of the total, 510,975 people have registered for vaccination, with around 20,000 having received their first dose. Limited access to vaccination and their lack of a civil registry number (NIK) have contributed to the small number of vaccine registrants.

AMAN and several other organizations have asked the government to use its discretion in enabling vaccination for members of traditional communities, disabled people and children who did not have NIK certificates.

Second jabs

In Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, residents who have not yet received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine are still waiting for the central government to distribute the vaccine supply. The additional vaccines due to arrive in early August are to be allocated for use as second injections.

The vaccine would be reserved for residents who had been injected with their first dose.

Balikpapan Health Office head Andi Sri Juliarty said she had been notified that a shipment of 10,000 vaccine doses allotted to the city would arrive on Monday (2/8). The vaccine would be reserved for residents who had been injected with their first dose.

West Kalimantan received 1,920 vials of the Moderna vaccine on Wednesday to be used as a third dose “booster” for healthcare workers, due to their high risk of contracting Covid-19. According to West Kalimantan Governor Sutarmidji, one vial of the Moderna vaccine can be used for 14-15 people.

In order to expedite the vaccination rollout, Muhammadiyah and the National Police are continuing their cooperation. Muhammadiyah’s General Secretary of the Board, Abdul Mu’ti, said the mass organization had secured 2 million Covid-19 vaccine doses over several shipments.

National Covid-19 Task Force spokesman Wiku Adisasmito said a high number of Covid-19 deaths had been found across Java and Bali as well as other regions. Of the 10 provinces with highest death toll, five are located outside Java and Bali, namely East Kalimantan, Riau, South Sulawesi, Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra.

BNPB

National Covid-19 Task Force spokesman Wiku Adisasmito .

This condition should be a warning for all regional administrations to intensify their efforts to prepare local health facilities to prevent deaths. A surge in cases can be anticipated by taking several measures, including by increasing the number of centralized isolation facilities and field hospitals, as well as ensuring the availability of medicines and health workers. (AIK/TAN/ERK/SON/ESA/CIP)

(This article was translated by Aris Prawira)