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Govt starts vaccinating children as young as 6
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s concerns mount over the threat of the Omicron variant, the government will begin inoculating some 26 million children aged 6 to 11 ahead of schedule, with the first jabs set to be administered on Tuesday.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin announced the plan on Monday as part of wider efforts to fend off the threat of Omicron. This came following instruction from President Joko “Jokowi" Widodo last week to accelerate vaccination for this age group.
So far, only 115 regencies and cities, out of a total of 514, are eligible to start the vaccine drive because they have administered the first jabs of the two-dose vaccine to at least 70 percent and 60 percent of their general population and the elderly, respectively.
These regencies and cities are located in 11 provinces, including all Java’s six provinces, Bali, East Kalimantan, Riau Islands, North Sulawesi and West Nusa Tenggara.
Health Ministry acting director for disease prevention and control Maxi Rein Rondonuwu earlier said the government has allocated 6.4 million doses of the vaccine produced by China's Sinovac for the inoculation of younger children in December.
Maxi said other regions were expected to gradually start the program next year.
Read also: Indonesia 'eager' to start vaccinating children as young as 5: Minister
In Jakarta, for instance, the program will target some 980,000 children in this age group. Children will be able to get the shots in hospitals, community centers and certain school-based vaccination centers.
“This is because we really want to accelerate the vaccination of all Indonesian citizens and also to prevent the transmission of COVID-19,” Maxi said.
Starting next year, he said, the Sinovac vaccine, which has been Indonesia’s most common vaccine, would be exclusively administered to children aged 6 to 11, while other brands would be allocated for other age groups, including older children aged 12 to 17, and as booster shots.
Previously, only some 15.5 million children aged 12 to 17 were eligible for the vaccine. By Monday, 58 percent of children in this age group had been fully vaccinated. This is higher than the 37 percent vaccination rate of the elderly, even though they were among the earliest groups to receive the vaccine.
Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman welcomed the early start of vaccination drive for younger children, saying the vaccine would help protect them from the virus, especially as many of these children returned to school in late August.
Read also: Jabs for children 6-11 to start after 50 percent of Indonesians fully vaccinated
Dicky said he was concerned that younger children would be more vulnerable to infections from new coronavirus variants because most of them had yet to build up their immune system, either through infection or vaccination.
“If most of the country’s population has been vaccinated, the virus will then start infecting those that are still vulnerable: children [aged 6 to 11]. They eventually might fuel more infections [among the general public],” he said. “Especially with the threat of Omicron, it is urgent to vaccinate them as fast as possible.”
Dicky added, however, that the policy that required regencies and cities to vaccinate 70 percent of their general population before they could start the pediatric vaccine program was too restrictive. He said this requirement was more suitable for booster shots.
“These children might get infected before local administrations finish inoculating 70 percent of their general population. They are Indonesians, too. The government should not apply such a restriction,” he said.
