PALANGKA RAYA – EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATION BUREAU. The Public Communications Team of Central Kalimantan for COVID-19 Handling Task Force on Thursday (20/1/2022) issued a release regarding the development in the handling the COVID-19 pandemic in Central Kalimantan.

The Central Kalimantan COVID-19 Task Force Team, as well as the Central COVID-19 Handling Task Force, said that after 6 months of injecting the primary dose (complete dose), there will be a decrease in antibodies, so a booster vaccine is needed to strengthen individual protection, especially for vulnerable groups. This is supported by the results of a study from the National Immunization Expert Advisory Committee (ITAGI) or based on letter number ITAGI/SR/2/2022 on the study of advanced doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. ITAGI recommends the implementation of a booster to improve the effectiveness of the vaccine that has decreased.

As the Government Spokesperson and Ambassador for the Adaptation of New Habits, dr. Reisa Broto Asmoro explained that on January 12, 2022, the POM Agency had issued 6 vaccine brands that were approved for boosters, namely Sinovac-Coronavac, Pfizer, Astrazeneca, Moderna, Zifivax, and Janssen. The POM then issues guidelines for the equivalent of vaccines that can be used, which can be in the form of homologous vaccines (the same vaccine as the primary vaccine) or heterologous (a vaccine that is different from the primary vaccine).

The POM Agency guidelines are also equipped with guidelines from the Ministry of Health that are adjusted to the amount and stock of available vaccines. There are 2 equivalent vaccines for boosters, for the recipients of Sinovac primary vaccine can use half a dose of Pfizer or half a dose of Astrazeneca as a booster. Meanwhile, recipients of the Astrazeneca primary vaccine can use half the Moderna dose or half the Pfizer dose.

As the consideration, on January 11, 2022, President Joko Widodo had agreed that the booster vaccine is free for all Indonesians with several conditions. The requirements are for those aged 18 years and over, preferably the elderly and those who have an immune-compromized disease, and the area has exceeded 70% of the target vaccination target.

In addition, the Central Kalimantan COVID-19 Handling Task Force Team also conveyed and appealed that in addition to vaccination, the implementation of health protocols needed to continue to be implemented, so that it became a habit of life in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. 5M healthy behavior is a very important prevention effort in which everyone must be willing and able to make changes to 5M compliance behavior, so as to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.

It was also conveyed regarding the amount of data accumulated as of today, Thursday (20/1/2022), that there were no additional confirmed positive COVID-19 patients in Central Kalimantan, bringing the total to 46733. There were no additions for patients recovered, so the total remained 45141 people. And, there were no additional patients died, so the total remained 1590 people, with a mortality rate (CFR) of 3.4%.

Related to bed occupancy in hospitals (BOR), Intensive Beds experienced an increase in Bed Occupancy (9.52%), so that from 2.38% to 11.90%, in which no Regency/Municipality had a BOR above 50 %, while Insulation Beds experienced an increase in Bed Occupancy (0.52%), so that from 0.52% to 1.04%, in which no Regency/Municipality had a BOR above 50%.

For the achievement of the vaccination target of 2,036,104, the realization of Dose I Vaccination for Central Kalimantan Province has reached 84.36%. All regencies/municipality have achieved above 70% of Dose I Vaccination.

Meanwhile, regarding the achievement of vaccination target for teachers and education personnel, High Schools (SMA), and equivalent vocational schools (SMK), the realization of PNS/GTT/PTT Vaccinations did not increase so that it remained at 6,258 or 79.01%, the first dose of SMA/SMK was not added, so it remained 73.202 or 76.95%, and the second dose of SMA/SMK was not added, so it remained at 32,403 or 34.06%.

Based on Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs Number 04 of 2022 dated January 17, 2022 on the Implementation of Restrictions on Community Activities at Level 3, Level 2, and Level 1 and Optimizing the Command Post for Handling Corona Virus Disease 2019 at the Village and District Levels to Control the Spread of Corona Virus Disease 2019 in the Sumatra, Nusa Tenggara, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua, for regencies/municipality in Central Kalimantan Province, there are 2 criteria, namely Level 1 and Level 2 (valid until January 31, 2022). (may/trans.by feb)