Vaccines Stock is Running Low, Prioritize the 1st Dose

 

The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) has asked local governments (Pemda) who have limited stock of the Covid-19 vaccine to prioritize giving the first dose and use a risk-based strategy.

Spokesperson for Vaccination from the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that the limited availability of vaccines in a number of areas occurred because the COVID-19 vaccine came gradually and not simultaneously. Meanwhile, according to him, the Ministry of Health cannot prioritize all provinces at once.

 

However, his party asked to continue to prioritize the second dose if based on the calculations of the regional government many need to give a follow-up dose due to the close vaccine interval, which is 28 days for Sinovac and 3 months for AstraZeneca.

In additionally, Nadia also requested that local of governments vaccinate in their respective regions based on a risk zone. This means that the local government must also prioritize vaccination in a number of areas in its area that have a high risk of COVID-19 transmission.

The Director of Prevention and Control of Directly Infectious Diseases (P2PML) of the Ministry of Health then gave an example, the central government allocates 50 percent of the current stock of vaccines for Java-Bali.

Even from Java-Bali, 50 percent of it was again prioritized for the 57 regencies/cities included in the agglomeration area.

Separately, the West Sumatra Provincial Government proposed to add 800,000 doses of vaccine to the Center because the regional stock had run out.

His party has proposed a request for 800,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to the Central Government. However, currently only 30.7 thousand doses have been sent.

Arry explained that the vaccine obtained was under the AstraZeneca brand and was intended for police officers first. While Sinovac vaccine, West Sumatra has not received any additional at all.

Until now, said Arry, West Sumatra has spent 903,710 doses of vaccine sent through the Health Office and distributed to various regions.

"For vaccines stock, we depend on the central government, if the vaccine stock arrives, we will immediately complete the vaccine achievement," said Arry.

Arry said the public's enthusiasm for vaccination in the past month was very high. This will make it easier for the government to achieve the vaccination target in West Sumatra.

"In the beginning, we prioritized the elderly. However, the vaccine process took a very long time because it was constrained by several things, such as the elderly's access to hospitals, difficulties in registering, and so on," he said.

He admitted that the slow achievement of vaccine targets was caused by difficulties in giving vaccines to the elderly. Until now, the vaccine achievement rate for the elderly is still 5.2 percent or 489,575 for the first dose and 25,915 doses for the second phase.

Similarly, the government of Cilegon City, Banten, Baja City has only received 80,000 vials and has been injected into 68,000 people or 18.7 percent of the population. Meanwhile, the need reaches 320 thousand doses.

"So we are asking again. Our needs are at 320 thousand. People have started to realize [the importance of vaccination] with a new variant," said Cilegon Mayor Helldy Agustian, at Merak Harbor, Tuesday (27/7).

Previously, other regional heads had complained about the stock of vaccines at a time when people were getting enthusiastic about vaccination.