Local Authorities Urged to Optimize Vaccination Efforts for Elderly
With the coverage of booster doses of COVID-19 vaccination for elderly still falling short of the target, regional governments have been urged to step up the movement to protect citizens.
By
AHMAD ARIF
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KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI
An elderly man received a second reinforcing Covid-19 vaccine injection at the Central Jakarta Mayor's Office in Jakarta, Wednesday (25/1/2023).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Regional governments are playing an important role in the COVID-19 vaccinations, whose coverage for the elderly is still low up to now. To increase the coverage requires optimization of the efforts, including reaching out to the community directly.
Siti Nadia Tarmizi, head of the Bureau of Communication and Public Services at the Health Ministry suggested local government mobilize neighborhood cadres to help in the outreach programs.
"[We are appealing for the regions to achieve] the target of vaccination for the elderly, either full dose or [first] booster dose, at least 70 percent," she said when contacted in Jakarta on Wednesday (25/1/2023).
Data at the ministry show the number of elderly people who have received first booster vaccines is 7.24 million while the second booster recipients comprise 415,282 people. The figures are still far below the minimum target, which is 70 percent of 21.55 million elderly citizens.
In Bali, where vaccinations for elderly are also low, the local government has reportedly planned door-to-door visits to reach out to the residents. The increasing arrival of foreign tourists is seen as an urgent call for accelerated vaccination efforts as part of the protection measures for the public.
“Elderly residents in Bali are feeling safe because COVID-19 has gone down. They increasingly feel disinclined to get vaccinated,” provincial health office head I Nyoman Gede Anom said.
Meanwhile, the Jakarta health office, as disclosed by epidemiology surveillance and immunization section head Ngabila Salama, sees no urgency yet for door-to-door visits, with it still relying on subordinate administrative officials, including those at neighborhood units (RT), community units (RW), volunteers and religious leaders to help bring awareness among the citizens, especially elderly, about the prescribed full doses of vaccination.
KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI
The vaccinator shows the vaccine bottle during the implementation of the second booster dose of Covid-19 vaccination at the Central Jakarta Mayor's Office in Jakarta, Wednesday (25/1/2023).
Lack of awareness
Indonesian Medical Gerontology Association (Pergemi) chairperson Siti Setiati attributed the low coverage of booster shots for elderly to lack of awareness about the urgency of vaccinations as well as mental fatigue from having been long confined during the pandemic.
She also blamed the sluggish vaccinations on people’s excessive fears over post-vaccination effects that they might catch fever, endure physical lethargy or suffer a bout of sickness.
The main problem lies in the lack of understanding and misinformation.
“The main problem lies in the lack of understanding and misinformation. This can be anticipated by promoting and disseminating information via various media channels," she said.
She also suggested direct visits deservedly be taken as an alternative step to approach elderly people, saying that the "pick up the ball" outreach could involve government and non-government institutions such as the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI).
Long COVID
Indonesian Pulmonologists Association (PDPI) chairman Agus Dwi Susanto said the elderly would endure more severe COVID-19 effects than younger people. The older one is, the less one’s immunity resists diseases.
Some people who have been infected with the COVID-19 virus can experience long-term effects, known as post-COVID conditions or long COVID, such as fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive dysfunction. His research in 2022 found that as many as 66 percent of 256 COVID-19 patients experienced long COVID.
"Long-term symptoms are generally found in patients aged 40 years and over, with comorbidities, or those with severe effects of COVID-19," Agus said.
Meanwhile, IDI COVID-19 task force chairperson Erlina Burhan deplored the sluggish progress in booster vaccinations despite the fact that they were urgent to increase immunity.
She said booster doses were crucial to recover the immunity that would decline six months after the last vaccine.
She recommended people take the second booster vaccination launched on Tuesday. The second booster is intended for citizens over 18 years of age. Learning from the low coverage of the first booster doses, the government has been urged to see to logistics mobilization for people’s eased access to vaccinations. (Z11)
