Regions at Greater Risk, Accelerate Vaccinations

Areas outside Java could be more at risk with the spread of the Omicron variant, mainly due to limited vaccinations and health facilities. The government was asked to speed up vaccination.

KOMPAS/DEFRI WERDIONO

Rapid test facilities provided at a hotel in Batu City, East Java, during the Coordination Meeting for the Acceleration of Handling Covid-19 in East Java, on Tuesday (8/2/2022)

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have spiked and surpassed the peak of daily cases recorded during the Delta variant. The consequences will be dire if Omicron spreads across the regions because of unequal vaccine distribution and limited health facilities. The vaccine rollout needs to be accelerated, especially for indigenous people whose coverage is still low.

Emergency response head of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), Annas Radin Syarif, expressed concern over the affect of the spread of Omicron to indigenous peoples in Jakarta on Tuesday (8/2/2022). “Prior to this, the impact of the pandemic on indigenous peoples was relatively small because some communities carried out self-quarantine early on,” he said.