Boosting Homecoming Requirements, Third Dose of Vaccination in Papua and West Papua Continues to Increase

The number of people receiving the third dose of vaccine in the provinces of Papua and West Papua has continued to increase in the last three months. This effort is also to ensure that people who want to carry out homecoming trips during this year's Eid al-Fitr holiday are not easily exposed to Covid-19.

Head of Disease Prevention and Control at the Papua Provincial Health Office, Aaron Rumainum, in Jayapura, said that in the last three months, the coverage of booster vaccinations had reached 57,655 people. Previously, in December 2021 there were still around 1,000 people.

He also stated that all health facilities opened the service of the third dose of vaccine for free. Meanwhile, the supply of Pfizer vaccine made by the Pfizer-BioNTech company is still very sufficient for use by hundreds of thousands of people.

“We provide easy access for any Papuan citizen who wants to get the third dose of vaccine. The number of Pfizer vaccines that are in the Papua Health Office and have not been used has reached 114,000 doses,” said Aaron.
 
Aaron said, the target of giving the third dose of vaccine reached 70 percent of the total citizens who had received the third dose of vaccine. As for the latest data, the number of residents receiving the second dose of vaccine has reached 618,769 people.

He also hopes that the local government and various related parties in a number of districts where the coverage of the first dose of vaccination is still very low will work harder. The goal is to prevent cases of death of citizens exposed to Covid-19.
 
It is known that there are 14 people who have died from Covid-19 in Papua in the last three months. A total of 14 of these people have never received the Covid-19 vaccine.

There are a number of districts where the coverage of the first dose of vaccination is still below 5 percent, namely Lanny Jaya 1.4 percent, Tolikara 1.6 percent, Yahukimo 1.9 percent, Dogiyai 2.1 percent, Puncak Jaya 2.5 percent, Puncak Jaya 2.6 percent, Intan Jaya 2.7 percent, Nduga 3 percent, Deiyai 3 percent, and Paniai 3.8 percent.
 
It is known that vaccination coverage in Papua is the lowest in all of Indonesia so far this year. The total coverage of the first dose of vaccination in Papua is only 32.4 percent, the second dose is 23.95 percent, and the third dose is 2.23 percent.

Head of the Merauke Health Service, Dr. Nevile Muskita, said that his party continues to intensively provide socialization for residents to take the third dose of vaccination. It is known that there are many transmigrants from Java in Merauke who often go home during Eid.

"We will ask for additional vaccine supplies to the Papua Health Office for the implementation of the third dose of vaccination. Currently, there are still around 1,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine to be given to the public," he said.
 
Meanwhile, Head of the West Papua Health Service, Otto Parorrongan, explained that residents who had received the third dose of vaccination also experienced a significant increase. The third dose of vaccination in early February was 6,344 people and at the end of March it was 32,438 people.

He also appealed to the people in the three districts where the coverage of the first dose of vaccine was still low not to be afraid to participate in the vaccination. “These three areas are the Arfak Mountains, Maybrat, and Tambrauw. The reason is that people don't want to be vaccinated on the grounds that it violates their culture,” said Otto.

SOURCE: https://www.kompas.id/baca/nusantara/2022/03/29/vaccination-dosis-ketiga-di-papua-dan-papua-barat-terus-melonjak