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Jabs for children 6-11 to start after 50 percent of Indonesians fully vaccinated
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Child protection: A student receives a shot of the Sinovac COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at a school in Lhokseumawe, Aceh, on Aug. 30. (AFP/Azwar Ipank)
D
espite the Drugs and Foods Monitoring Agency's (BPOM) approval of the Coronavac vaccine for children aged 6 to 11, the government said it would wait until 50 percent of Indonesia's targeted population has been fully inoculated before vaccinating the age group.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that because children were at a much lower risk of getting severe symptoms or dying from COVID-19 than adults, they were currently not considered a high priority for the ongoing mass vaccination rollout.
"Just like in other countries, our top priority is vaccinating the older population, especially the elderly who are 20 to 30 times more likely to be hospitalized or die of COVID-19," Budi said during a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission IX overseeing health care and manpower on Monday.
Fatalities among children and teenagers up to 18 years old make up 1 percent of total COVID-19 deaths in Indonesia, while fatalities among people over the age of 60 account for more than 46 percent of all deaths, government data shows. The data does not specify how many children aged 6 to 11 and 12 to 17 have been infected with the virus. The latter age group is currently eligible for COVID-19 shots in an ongoing pediatric vaccine rollout that began in July.
Read also: Indonesia seeks to close vaccination gap as it passes 200 million shots
The elderly, meanwhile, are among the first recipient groups in the nationwide vaccine drive, yet only about 26 percent of Indonesia's 21 million elderly people have been fully vaccinated so far.
To ensure that the older population is sufficiently protected before COVID-19 immunization for children begins, Budi said the government would start the children's vaccine rollout in regions that have inoculated 70 percent of their targeted residents and 60 percent of their elderly population.
