New Rules: Booster Vaccines Become a Requirement to Enter Public Facilities

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In an effort to deal with Covid-19 in Indonesia, people who want to enter public facilities must have been vaccinated in 3 stage or booster vaccine. This policy was revealed by the Coordinator of the Expert Team and Government Spokesperson for Handling Covid-19, Wiku Adisasmito.

He stated, that for now booster vaccines have become a mandatory requirement for large-scale community activities. Later it will be followed for entry requirements to public facilities.

“Currently, large-scale community activities require booster vaccines for participants. In the future, it will also be a requirement to be able to enter public facilities,” explained Wiku, quoted from the BNPB Indonesia Youtube channel, Friday (1/7/2022).

Nationally, he explained that the booster coverage is 24%, with 28 out of 30 provinces still below 30%. Only the province of Bali has done a booster of more than 50%.

“Only Bali has above 50 percent, followed by DKI and Riau Islands with 40 percent. and DIY, West Java, East Kalimantan with above 30 percent,” said Wiku.

Wiku said that since starting in January 2022, the progress of booster vaccination has been slower than the one and two doses. At the beginning of the implementation of the first and second doses of vaccination, coverage can increase by 60 percent within a period of six months, namely between June and December 2021.

“However, for the booster vaccination at the same time, from January to June 2022, the coverage has only increased by 20 percent,” said Wiku.

Increasing the coverage of booster vaccines, according to Wiku, requires the participation of all levels of society. He also asked local governments to protect their respective regions by re-promoting booster vaccination and ensuring that the public is well educated about the importance of booster dose vaccination.

“For that, please immediately do a booster vaccine and invite all family and relatives to do it immediately,” said Wiku.

Wiku said that Indonesia had again experienced an increasing trend of Covid-19 cases globally and nationally after the emergence of new omicron subvariants, namely BA.4 and BA.5. Based on data from GISAID that in the past month, more than 99 percent of the variants reported from Indonesia were omicron variants, including the two variants.

On the other hand, regarding the vaccination interval, the Head of the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI) Prof. Dr. Sri Rezeki Hadinegoro said that booster vaccines can be done directly without repeating the primary vaccine.

“For the booster, it’s not only antibodies that are measured, but there is something called memory cells. These cells last longer and are needed by a booster. These cells must be continuously active so that when they are given a booster they will produce antibodies.”

“So because of the memory cells, the booster can still be given even though it’s been more than 6 months. For example, it’s been 8 months, don’t wait anymore, quickly inject a booster,” said Sri in an online seminar entitled COVID-19 Vaccination Journey: The Importance of Booster Vaccination in the Pandemic Period Saturday (25/6/2022).

On the other hand, if before 6 months, for example, only 2 months of giving the primary vaccine, then giving a booster will not show a significant increase in antibodies.

“Two months after the primary vaccine, the antibody is still high, if we inject it again it won’t go up that high. Now we have to be careful, we have used the 6-month limit, it’s best if there is research.”