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Vaccination of ‘vulnerable groups’ begins amid expert skepticism
Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman said the “geospatial” approach used by Jakarta to prioritize vaccine recipients had “no scientific basis”.
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A vendor shows his COVID-19 vaccination card after being inoculated at Melong Market in Cimahi, West Java, on Feb. 24. Health authorities gave 95 vendors at the market a first vaccine dose. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)
J
akarta has begun the third phase of its COVID-19 vaccination drive, opening eligibility to “vulnerable groups”, which the administration defines as people living in areas at high risk of virus transmission.
The city announced the new phase on Instagram on May 28, noting that vulnerable residents aged 18 and older would be eligible to receive the jab.
The administration defines vulnerable residents as those who live in community units (RWs) that have high numbers of confirmed cases or those who live in neighborhood units (RTs) where new coronavirus variants have been discovered. The provincial health authority will determine which RWs and RTs are eligible under the program.
Health authorities will also prioritize people living in 445 densely populated RWs, as stipulated by Gubernatorial Regulation No. 90/2018.
Jakarta Health Agency health surveillance and immunization head Ngabila Salama said more than 1.3 million residents had been listed as members of vulnerable groups and that around 142,000 such Jakartans had been inoculated from May 5 to 18.
The health agency also said the vaccination of vulnerable groups would be performed alongside the vaccination of other prioritized groups, namely health workers, the elderly and public service workers.
As of Friday, some 1.8 million priority residents of Jakarta had been fully vaccinated. Authorities hope to fully inoculate 3 million people in the capital in the early phases of the drive.
