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Administer any booster available to avoid hospitalization, deaths
The effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination typically decreases within six months of the administration of the second dose.
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Giving a boost: A resident receives an AstraZeneca booster vaccine dose during a mass inoculation program organized by the Semarang Police in the Simpang Lima neighborhood of the Central Java provincial capital on Thursday. (Antara/Aji Styawan)
W
hile the joy of Idul Fitri has lingered in many quarters, concerns loom over the country’s low rate of COVID-19 booster coverage. The specter of a return to the high hospitalization and death rates of the first and second waves of the pandemic is haunting us.
Amid the global risk of new coronavirus variants, the government encouraged Idul Fitri mudik (exodus) travelers to get booster shots before departing. People who had received a third shot could skip certain health protocols on their trips, and in many places booster doses were readily available. The government had thought its new travel policy would significantly increase booster coverage.
However, as of May 3, the COVID-19 booster rate stood only at 19.39 percent of the targeted population, some 208.26 million people, Health Ministry data shows. This low rate can be attributed, in part, to public hesitancy to get another vaccine dose.
The booster vaccine is strongly recommended for the general public, especially the elderly and other vulnerable groups. Many studies have revealed that the protection of a double-dose COVID-19 vaccine regimen wanes over time.
Pulmonologist Erlina Burhan of Persahabatan Hospital in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, said that the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination typically decreased within six months of the second administration. These findings, she added, had prompted the government to offer COVID-19 booster shots to enhance protection.
“Vaccines reinforced by a booster can prevent hospitalizations and deaths from severe illness caused by COVID-19 infection,” Erlina said at a roundtable discussion titled “Understanding COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness” on April 27.
Held by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), the Thai TROPMED Network and the Philippine College of Physicians, the discussion reviewed newly released data that suggested the world’s most administered vaccines – AstraZeneca’s viral vector vaccine and the available mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, which include the Pfizer vaccine – offer the same protection from the coronavirus.
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