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Booster shots demand picks up in anticipation of ‘mudik’
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One shot counts: A little girl receives a Sinovac vaccine jab at Sumatera Utara University Hospital in Medan on Dec. 30, 2021. The government is intensifying vaccination for children aged 6-11 years old against COVID-19. (Antara/Fransisco Carolio)
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ublic demand for COVID-19 vaccines, particularly booster doses, has picked up after a series of conflicting announcements about who would be permitted to engage in the Idul Fitri tradition of mudik (exodus) this year and under what circumstances.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo first addressed the question on March 23.
“This year, Muslims can hold congregational tarawih [Ramadan evening prayers] and gather to pray in mosques. […] People who also want to go on mudik are welcome to, as long as they have received a booster shot,” he said.
In response to this apparent booster shot travel requirement, a number of Indonesians began seeking third vaccine doses, including 34-year-old South Jakarta resident Rianti.
“Initially, I didn’t want to get a third shot. I had a high fever for three days after receiving my second Moderna jab,” she told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
“However, since I’m planning to fly to my hometown in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, for Idul Fitri, I figured I’d need to get a booster shot, so I went to get it at a vaccination center yesterday.”
Naditya Fitriani, a 28-year-old office worker from Bogor, West Java, said she had also been actively looking for a booster in response to the government announcement.
