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Herd immunity in Jakarta a 'pipe dream', expert says
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Health workers administer COVID-19 vaccines to residents during a mobile vaccination drive at Cipedak subdistrict office in South Jakarta on July 13, 2021. The Jakarta administration has dispatched vaccination vans to speed up the COVID-19 vaccination in the capital city. (Antara/Indrianto Eko Suwarso)
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akarta has carried out an exemplary COVID-19 vaccination acceleration since President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo ordered the capital to inoculate 7.5 million out of 10.5 million residents before the end of this month in order to achieve “herd immunity”.
Jokowi did not specify whether the target was for the first or the second doses, but this accounts for slightly over 70 percent of Jakarta’s population -- a conventional threshold for herd immunity even though herd immunity means people need to be fully vaccinated.
The city had managed to administer the first doses to 7.5 million people by late July, a month earlier than expected, and the number grew to 9 million on Sunday, slightly over the target of 8.9 million.
To further slow down transmission as infections begin to trend downward, Jakarta had now added 2.2 million more people to the list of targeted recipients, Governor Anies Baswedan said on Instagram on Sunday.
Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria is optimistic that Jakarta will soon reach herd immunity. But experts say Jakarta still has a long way to go, especially since fewer than 50 percent of the targeted recipients in the capital have been fully vaccinated.
Urban agglomeration problems and disparities in vaccination rates
Adding to the problem is that Jakarta residents only make up 60 percent of people receiving the first dose. The rest, about 3.7 million people, are not registered as Jakarta residents -- more than half of them are public and essential service workers who commute to work in Jakarta.
