By : Nofri Fahrozi, Public Health Observer
The plan to give the fourth dose of vaccination or the second booster from Covid-19 launched by the Ministry of Health needs to get support from various parties. The increase in Covid-19 cases must be anticipated by strengthening the community’s antibodies, besides that there are predictions that the pandemic will last for quite a long time.
Recently, with the continued increase in transmission of Covid-19 from the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants in the world, even including in Indonesia, the Government has made many efforts to reduce the rate of infection with the virus. Officially on July 22, 2022, the Ministry of State Secretariat has also signed a ban on traveling abroad for all officials except for very essential conditions. This is one of the policies that should be implemented in order to really be able to minimize the possibility of the risk of transmission of Covid-19.
In addition, with the policy of restrictions on traveling abroad, it is hoped that all officials will be able to focus more on their respective regions in order to prevent the transmission of the Covid-19 pandemic, continue to help accelerate vaccines to all corners of the country and also improve regulations regarding obligations. carry out health protocols including community activities.
Talking about the vaccine acceleration policy, the Government is currently trying not only so that the vaccine can be distributed evenly throughout the community, but recently there is a plan that has been drafted by the Indonesian Ministry of Health regarding the discourse of giving the fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine or the second booster.
The Indonesian Ministry of Health stated that the discourse for giving a second booster followed because the booster dose of vaccination was also being encouraged. The data shows that there is still not 50 percent of the target Indonesian people who have been injected with boosters, for this reason, the implementation of boosters will continue to be carried out.
Please note that so far there have been more than 53 million people who have received the third dose (booster) vaccine. Therefore, the Government will also continue to pursue that target first before actually carrying out efforts to give the fourth dose or second booster to the entire community.
Regarding why it has started, Mohammad Syahril as Spokesperson for the Indonesian Ministry of Health stated that the discourse of giving the fourth dose is because the nature of the formation of human antibodies after being given the vaccine will only last for six months. If it has been more than 6 months but it turns out that the Covid-19 pandemic still exists and is spreading in Indonesia, then strengthening the vaccine dose or giving a booster will certainly be very important, especially for those groups who are vulnerable to being infected with the virus.
Indeed, policies regarding the handling of Covid-19 will certainly continue to be evaluated by the Government following the latest update from the pandemic itself. Due to the nature of the virus itself, which is very easy to mutate and adapt, humans must be able to continue to fight it so that it is not impossible that there will continue to be policy changes in the future regarding Covid-19. Vulnerable parties such as health workers, the elderly and also those who serve the public must be prioritized if the second booster vaccination program is started.
Although the Spokesperson for the Indonesian Ministry of Health stated that actually giving this booster vaccination is not 100% able to make a person immune to the virus, but at least the risk of infection will certainly be able to be minimized and if, for example, someone has been infected, the symptoms he or she will experience will certainly not be severe so that they can survive. against the worst threat, namely death from Covid-19, maybe even those who have received the full dose of the vaccine will no longer need to undergo treatment in the hospital if one day they become infected because their antibodies are already strong.
Syahril stated that nowadays, someone who is infected with Covid-19 does not need to be treated intensively anymore in the hospital, it is very different from the previous Delta variant wave incident. Now people who are infected are advised to simply self-isolate. In addition, the Government has also been very successful in reducing the risk of death from Covid-19 even to below 10 cases per day.
Actually, the administration of the fourth dose of vaccine has already started in Malaysia, but in Indonesia itself, the Director General of Disease Prevention and Control (P2P) of the Ministry of Health, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu stated that currently all people must undergo the third dose of vaccine first, so that it becomes a priority. Ministry of Health. If later the achievement target has been achieved, then it is not impossible that there will be an option to give a second booster.
The discourse on giving the fourth vaccine or second booster is actually in line with the predictions of epidemiologist experts regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, which they think will continue for quite a long time. So that the Government’s discourse should be given support because it is in the interest of all the people so that Indonesia can immediately be free from the shackles of the pandemic.
