By: Aditya Akbar)*
The government stressed that it would not be in a hurry to implement the end of the Covid-19 pandemic because there are still several things that need to be focused and intensified, including one of them is the expansion of booster vaccination or the third dose must be given to the entire community.
As is well known, the Covid-19 pandemic has not really ended in the world, including in Indonesia. This is proven because there are still positive cases even though the curve is very gentle and the handling and control is very good, but that doesn’t mean the virus has just disappeared.
Therefore, the Government will continue to focus on a number of requirements set by the World Health Organization (WHO). At least for now the government will also continue to intensify the distribution of vaccinations to all Indonesian people, especially for the third dose or booster vaccine because the distribution rate is still below 30%.
In fact, several policies have also been regulated in such a way that the public must take booster vaccines first, such as travel requirements or requirements to visit certain public places. In addition, another requirement given by WHO is that at least the transmission rate of Covid-19 in an area must be below 1% with a positivity rate below 5%.
Regarding this, the government itself will also continue to strive to be able to achieve the benchmark figures set by WHO, including Covid-19 cases in hospital must be at least below 5% with a mortality rate below 3%. vaccination for at least the second dose must be at least 70% of the community population and also the entire region must enter PPKM level 1 first.
Knowing that Indonesia itself has not yet reached the various indicators that have been set by WHO, the Government will certainly not immediately rush to determine or revoke the status of the Covid-19 pandemic from the country because there are still several things that need to be further maximized, although In fact, the handling and control of Covid-19 in Indonesia has been very good.
WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that for now it seems that the end of the Covid-19 pandemic is in sight, but that does not mean the pandemic will end immediately, because all parties must also continue to maintain vigilance.
For that reason, all parties must be able to remind each other about compliance with health protocols anywhere, especially in public areas. Meanwhile, from the government itself, it is clear that the appeal to the entire community will never stop anyway. Coupled with the availability of many vaccine outlets that can be directly accessed by the public, which is the result of collaboration between the government and all health centers in Indonesia so that people do not need to be confused anymore to access vaccines.
Responding to this, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, emphasized that he was indeed reluctant to declare that the pandemic was really over. For him, even with all these excellent handling and control, Indonesia still has the potential and risk of spreading the Corona virus, so the vigilance of all parties must be maintained.
Similarly, Spokesperson for Covid-19 Vaccination, Ministry of Health, dr. Siti Nadia Tarmizi also said that at this time the government would not be in a hurry to immediately announce that it was as if this pandemic was over and made the transition to being endemic. According to him, to really get rid of a disease, it takes a longer time.
As for the case in Indonesia itself, dr. Siti Nadia explained that Covid-19 cases still exist, but it can be said that they are not much disturbing to life and almost all community activities, especially when compared to the second wave of explosions a few months ago, of course the current conditions are very different. According to him, for now social life, religious life and tourism can still run smoothly due to the success of the government in handling and controlling the pandemic.
The government has also carried out several types of easing to be able to slowly restore people’s mobility so that the national economy can quickly improve. Meanwhile, the Vice President, KH Ma’ruf Amin also stated the same thing, that the current government is in no hurry to revoke the pandemic status.
The reason is, for now the government itself will continue to be careful and continue to make sure, because the true nature of the Covid-19 pandemic itself is very difficult to predict. Although he also acknowledged handling in Indonesia,
