New COVID-19 Vaccination Scheme Aims to Protect Children: Minister

Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Bintang Puspayoga. Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat.

The Government has announced that the new policy to provide COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 12-17 years aims to protect Indonesian children.

“The policy is made in response to the increasing number of transmissions and cases of COVID-19 among children in Indonesia,” Minister of Women Empowerment and Child Protection Bintang Puspayoga said as quoted by the Ministry’s official website, Tuesday (29/06).

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo himself on Monday (28/06) officially announced the new policy.

According to Bintang, her Ministry will immediately implement the policy by coordinating with related stakeholders.

“It is important that the policy can be implemented immediately and vaccination for children can be carried out for a large number of recipients,” she said.

The Minister also stated that the proportion of confirmed COVID-19 cases in children aged 0-18 years is 12.5 percent, meaning that 1 out of 8 confirmed cases is a child with 50 percent of the total child COVID-19 mortality occurring among toddlers.

Protecting children and fulfilling children’s rights amid the COVID-19 pandemic are top priorities, she added.

“Stay at home unless you have urgent need. Involve your children to do positive activities at home so they don’t get bored and protect your children from crowds or places prone to transmission,” the Minister said. (Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection/UN) (RI/EP)