While the elderly are experiencing difficulties in getting vaccinated, the death rate of people aged 60 years and above is the highest among all other age groups.
By
IRENE SARWINDANINGRUM / INSAN ALFAJRI / DHANANG ARITONANG / ANDY RIZA HIDAYAT
·6 minutes read
Kompas/Hendra A Setyawan
A vaccinator injects a vaccine into an elderly person during a Covid-19 vaccination at RW 21 East Pamulang, South Tangerang, Banten, Sunday (25/7/2021).
After a long wait, the parents of Monika (not her real name) were finally vaccinated against Covid-19 in early August. Monika’s parents received unused vaccines from the supply allocated for the Golkar Party in Klaten regency, Central Java. Coincidentally, Monika was one of the health workers on duty to administer the vaccine.
Monika is a health worker at a Puskesmas (community health center) in Klaten. Although she has been assigned several times as a vaccinator, she faced difficulties in helping her parents to get vaccinated. She also witnessed many younger people getting vaccinated first.
In fact, the elderly have been targeted as priority recipients of the Covid-19 vaccine since February.
At the beginning of August, Monika was assigned as a vaccinator at a Puskesmas in Klaten. Some of the recipients were of the productive age group and had been invited to join the vaccination program of the Golkar Party’s Klaten chapter.
After all of Golkar’s vaccine invitees had been vaccinated, several unused vaccine doses were left over. Monika called her father and mother to come get their vaccines. “Because there were [several] unused vaccine doses, I called my parents. They had not been vaccinated yet. Because the remaining vaccines must be used up," she said on Thursday (5/8/2021).
According to the Health Ministry’s Technical Instruction on Covid-19 Vaccination, all unused vaccine doses from an open vial must be used within six hours. After more than 6 hours, the vaccine in an open vial will degrade in quality or even spoil. A vial of vaccine contains 10 doses.
Monika did not understand why her parents were not registered in the Golkar vaccination program when her younger neighbors had been invited. According to the information she received, the vaccine recipients were determined by the Golkar’s Klaten leadership.
KOMPAS/IRENE SARWINDANINGRUM
Vaccination activity at the Golkar Party DPD Office, Klaten Regency, Central Java, Saturday (31/7/2021).
The Golkar Party’s Klaten regional chapter held a mass vaccination drive starting on 1 Aug. 2021 after it received 10,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine from the party’s national office in Jakarta. The vaccine allotment distributed to Golkar was not part the vaccine quota for the Klaten Health Office, and came directly from the Health Ministry.
Although the Klaten Health Office had prioritized the elderly as vaccine recipients, it had a limited supply of the vaccine. The regency’s vaccine quota is also used to inoculate health workers, civil servants, elderly citizens, and comorbid patients.
No access
Cahyani (45) was also desperately looking for a vaccine center In Klaten for her mother, Leli (75), who works as a trader. Every day, Leli sells goods at her shop and interacts with many buyers. She is at high risk of being exposed to Covid-19 because not all buyers comply with the health protocols.
Her family was worried that Leli would be infected with Covid-19, especially with the emergence of the more contagious and dangerous Delta variant.
Over the last few months, Cahyani has been constantly monitoring information on Covid-19 vaccinations. She also looked for a vaccination center beyond Klaten, in the neighboring city of Yogyakarta.
“I tried to register through the heads of the local RT/RW [neighborhood/community units], but failed because [their program] was only intended for the RT/RW leadership. I also tried to register at several hospitals here, but also failed because when I opened the registration site, the vaccine quota was all used up," he said.
Cahyani also tried to register with a community or organizational vaccination program in Yogyakarta. Due to short notice, she did not have the time to arrange her mother’s journey to Yogyakarta. Cahyani received information about mass vaccination programs, but it turned out that they were only intended for certain groups of people, institutions, or organizations. Cahyani’s mother was unable to be vaccinated even though she is a priority recipient.
Kompas
The funeral process for elderly residents who were positive for Covid in Salatiga City, Central Java, Sunday (4/7/2021).
Exposure
Juariyah (62) has a different story. She couldn\'t be vaccinated even though she looked for a vaccination point in other villages and hospitals. According to the information she received, she could not be vaccinated because the vaccine supply had run out. Juariyah, a resident of Depok, West Java, sells vegetables in a housing complex every day. She wants to be vaccinated immediately so she will not contract the coronavirus.
Amid her arduous efforts to get vaccinated, she was infected with Covid-19. She had to go into self-isolation until the third week of August and temporarily stop trading. Juariyah has now recovered. During a meeting with her on Tuesday (24/8), she was pushing her vegetable cart. She still looks physically frail. Juariyah hopes she can eventually get the Covid-19 vaccine, but she doesn\'t know yet.
"I want to be healthy, I want to be vaccinated," said the grandmother.
In her neighborhood, the information on vaccination programs usually comes from the local police and community health center (Puskesmas). A vaccination program was once held near her house, but Juariyah could not take part at that time because she still had Covid-19.
What will happen if our parents, teachers and other people we love and respect count among the elderly who cannot access the vaccine?
In South Tangerang, Banten, it is not difficult to find elderly people who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19. They mostly work as street traders and interact with many people. Purwanto (67), a cendol iced jelly drink seller in Rempoa, East Ciputat, is among them. He wants to be vaccinated, but he does not know how.
Purwanto, who comes from Jepara, Central Java, lives in a rented house with six other cendol traders. "All of them are of my age, and no one has been vaccinated," he said on Saturday (21/8).
As far as Purwanto is concerned, no officials from the community administration or the local health center have asked him to come to a vaccination center. "I just want to be [vaccinated] as long as it doesn\'t interfere with my [business] activity," said the father of four, whose family members all live in Jepara.
While the elderly are experiencing difficulties in getting vaccinated, the death rate of people aged 60 years and above is the highest among all other age groups. What will happen if our parents, teachers and other people we love and respect count among the elderly who cannot access the vaccine?
This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.
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