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Govt reinstates booster shot rule for domestic travelers
As part of efforts to ramp up the country’s stalling vaccination rollout amid a recent uptick in COVID-19 cases, the government has included booster shots in the checklist for domestic travels.
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A health worker readies a COVID-19 vaccine to administer a third dose as a "booster" to a woman on Jan. 12 at a Puskesmas (community health center) in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta. (Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
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s part of efforts to ramp up the country’s stalling vaccination rollout amid the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases, the government has included booster shots in the checklist for domestic travels.
The new travel rules, which cover domestic travelers using all modes of transportation, whether by air, sea or land, were penned in a circular signed by National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Suharyanto on Friday. It will go into effect starting on July 17 for an undetermined period of time.
Travelers who have received a third dose are exempted from mandatory pre-departure testing, in the government’s bid to encourage people to get booster vaccines and improve the public's immunity against new COVID-19 subvariants.
But travelers who have only completed the two-dose primary vaccination must now present proof of a negative result from an antigen test taken 24 hours before departure or from a PCR test taken a maximum of three days before the trip. They will also be able to take a booster shot on-site in departure points.
Travelers who had only one dose of the vaccine must show a negative PCR test result, while people who are medically unable to receive the vaccines must present a doctor’s letter, in addition to a negative PCR-test result.
Children aged six to 17 are required to present only their proof of primary vaccination, while children under six, who cannot yet be vaccinated, will be required to travel with a guardian who has been fully vaccinated.
The government’s booster-shot regiment currently consists of numerous heterologous and homologous options. The Chinese Sinovac and Zivifax vaccines were the latest to join the regiment, following mounting public calls for halal-vaccine options.
