Indonesia Begins COVID-19 Vaccination for Children Age 6-11

Jakarta, MINA – The Indonesian government willstart vaccinating COVID-19 for children aged 6 to 11 years on Tuesday (14/12). The number of vaccination targets reached 26.5 million children based on the 2020 population census data.

Acting Director General of Disease Prevention and Control, Ministry of Health dr. Maxi Rein Rondonuwu said that his party had prepared a kick-off for the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 6 to 11 years.

“We hope that on Tuesday there will be a kick-off in several areas that we will determine and then gradually until next year we will vaccinate all children aged 6 to 11 years, based on the data, there are 26.8 million,” said dr. Maxi as quoted from the setkab.go.id page on Monday.

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In addition, the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI) has also issued recommendations for the implementation of COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 6 to 11 years.

“This is really done because we want to accelerate the vaccination of all residents in Indonesia and also prevent the transmission of COVID-19,” said Director General Maxi.

The vaccination will be carried out in stages. The first stage of vaccination will be carried out in provinces and districts/cities with criteria for vaccination coverage of dose 1 above 70 percent and vaccination coverage for the elderly above 60 percent.

To date, 8.8 million people from 106 districts/cities from 11 provinces have met these criteria, namely Banten, DI Yogyakarta, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, East Kalimantan, Riau Islands, West Nusa Tenggara, North Sulawesi, and Bali.

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The vaccine currently being used is the Sinovac type and already has an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). A total of 6.4 million doses of Sinovac vaccine will be used until the end of December 2021.

“There are 6.4 million doses for December and then January 2022 there will be an additional Sinovac vaccine from the Director General of Pharmacy and it has arrived, so this (vaccination for children) will not be broken,” said Director General Maxi.

Sinovac Starting next year, continued Maxi, will only be used for pediatric doses. This is a note so that non-Sinovac vaccines will be prioritized for targets other than children aged 6 to 11 years.

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Vaccine injection is done by intramuscular or injection into the muscles of the body in the upper arm with a dose of 0.5 ml. Vaccination is given twice with an interval of at least 28 days. Prior to vaccination, the vaccination officer must be screened using a standard format.

Vaccinations can be carried out at Puskesmas, hospitals or other health care facilities, both government and private, including vaccination service posts and vaccination centers.

“Including what we expect is a vaccination service post in schools or other educational units, or children’s social welfare institutions such as orphanages,” said Maxi. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)