TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - As many as 43.9 million Indonesian citizens have received the third or booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Saturday, according to the COVID-19 Handling Task Force.

According to the task force data received by ANTARA on Saturday, the number of third dose recipients swelled by 349,398 on Saturday, taking the total count to 43,911,285.

Meanwhile, the number of fully vaccinated people, or those who have received two vaccine doses under the government's national vaccination program, grew by 132,018 to reach 166,764,720.

Based on the data, the number of people who have been inoculated with the first dose rose by 45,565, taking the total number of recipients to 199,844,276.

As part of efforts to boost community immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021, targeting as many as 208,265,720 citizens across the country. President Joko Widodo was the first vaccine recipient under the program.

Earlier, head of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force at the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI), Prof. Zubairi Djoerban, had said that the chance of a potential surge in COVID-19 cases after the 2022 Eid homecoming exodus period was smaller compared to during the previous years as Indonesia's vaccination achievement was already high.

He pointed out that during the Eid homecoming period in previous years, the number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Indonesia was still low, resulting in a spike in cases after the homecoming period.

People who have been vaccinated have a lower risk of contracting COVID-19, and if they are infected, they do not experience severe symptoms.

The first case of COVID-19 in Indonesia was confirmed in March 2020. According to data from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, as of May 21, 2022, the nation recorded a total of 6,052,363 COVID-19 cases, 5,892,126 recoveries, and 156,519 deaths.

ANTARA

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