Jakarta (ANTARA) - Establishing herd immunity also requires the participation of children, head of the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI) Sri Rezeki Hadinegoro has said.
"We must include children to achieve herd immunity since the community does not only consist of adults," she remarked during a virtual dialogue on ‘Vaccinations are Safe for Children’, which was broadcast on YouTube FMB9 here on Monday.
ITAGI has got many questions from the public regarding the importance of COVID-19 vaccinations for 6–11 years old children.
If children are infected with COVID-19, they often show no or mild symptoms, she noted.
“However, sometimes the symptoms can be severe, especially for children with comorbidities -- for instance, diabetes, asthma, and others," she said.
In addition, children with mild COVID-19 symptoms may transmit the virus to those around them, Hadinegoro pointed out.
"Moreover, people love to hug and hold children. Hence, the virus has high potential to transmit if the child is asymptomatic," ITAGI head noted.
Thus, vaccinating children will not only protect them, but also others, she emphasized.
"Especially, for elementary school students, they must be prepared for face-to-face learning. Thus, they must have good immunity so they will not infect others and not make any COVID-19 cluster," she added.
Furthermore, both vaccinations and health protocols are important to curb the transmission of the virus, she said.
"If we only conduct health protocols, the transmission rate may decrease, but the virus can still live inside the body of the people who have not gotten vaccinated. We have to be vigilant about it,” she added.
The government rolled out vaccinations for children on December 14, 2021, and is targeting to inoculate 26.8 million aged 6–11.
Currently, the government is only running the children's vaccination program in provinces and districts/cities where the first dose coverage has crossed 70 percent and elderly vaccination coverage has reached above 60 percent.
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A screenshot of head of the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization, Sri Rezeki Hadinegoro, at an online discussion on Monday (December 20, 2021). ANTARA/Andi Firdaus/uyu
We must include children to achieve herd immunity since the community does not only consist of adults.
