[ad_1]
Medan, Indonesia – Viktorious Veni considers himself one of the lucky ones.
The high school music teacher who lives in Kupang, the capital of Nusa Tenggara province in the remote east of Indonesia, was vaccinated against the coronavirus in May, but he knows that many others are not so lucky.
He told Al Jazeera: “Every day there are developments and more and more patients are admitted to the hospital in Kupang.”
“The delta variant has entered East Nusa Tenggara, so the number is increasing every day, especially in places like Labuan Bajo and Maumere.”
Veni was able to get the vaccine because he is a teacher and is considered a frontline worker in East Nusa Tenggara, but the province, like the rest of Indonesia, has been struggling to cope with the slow rollout of the vaccine and the surge in the number of new coronavirus cases The problem.
To date, East Nusa Tenggara, with a population of 5.5 million, has reported more than 40,000 positive cases and more than 800 deaths. According to the Ministry of Health website, there are 29 designated COVID-19 hospitals in the province, but as of August 3, 17 are full.
Marius Ardu Jelamu, spokesperson for the COVID-19 mission in East Nusa Tenggara, said: “The hospital has also been overloaded. Therefore, the Governor of East Nusa Tenggara requested the construction of a special COVID-19 hospital to handle some of the stress. “Force told Al Jazeera.
Viktorious Veni, a teacher in East Nusa Tenggara, considers himself one of the lucky ones because he was vaccinated [Courtesy of Viktorius Veni]“We hope this will boost the confidence of the local people because many people feel pressured by the prospect of needing to be hospitalized without enough oxygen or beds, so many people decide to stay at home even if they feel sick.”
According to data from the Ministry of Health, although Indonesia has so far successfully obtained more than 173 million COVID-19 vaccines, only 46 million people received the first dose and 19 million people received the second dose.
In East Nusa Tenggara (East Nusa Tenggara), there are plans to vaccinate 3.8 million people. As of July 30, only 15% of the population had received the first injection, and only 7% had received the full two doses. injection.
East Nusa Tenggara is the southernmost province in Indonesia. It consists of more than 1,000 islands, including Sumba Island, Flores Island and western East Timor, sharing a land border with East Timor or East Timor. Due to its geographical location and population dispersion, vaccinating residents against COVID-19 poses a major challenge for health authorities.
The local government originally hoped to achieve its ambitious vaccination target by the end of the year, and the second phase of vaccine rollout is planned to begin in July.
Unfortunately, supply issues meant that they missed this goal.
“We are still working hard to coordinate with the central government. The Ministry of Health has promised to distribute vaccines this year so that 70% of the population can be vaccinated and we can achieve herd immunity,” Jelamu said.
In order for the vaccines to even reach East Nusa Tenggara, they must first be airlifted from Jakarta or Surabaya in Java or Denpasar in Bali.
According to Jelamu, the government decided to use commercial airlines instead of special chartered flights to transport supplies, which caused problems.
Local airlines often cancel flights to East Nusa Tenggara because of insufficient passengers, which delays the delivery of vaccines. As the pandemic has made travel difficult and the number of passengers has declined, Jeramu said that the flight schedule to East Nusa Tenggara has become increasingly unstable.
He added that the central government should deliver vaccines through Hercules military aircraft or helicopters.
“This is the standard procedure used in the past when we encountered medical emergencies and needed supplies, such as East Nusa Tenggara. Cyclone Cerroha April,” he said.
Vaccine ration
Even after the stock reaches central Kupang, the vaccine still needs to be transferred to remote areas, usually through difficult terrain or between islands by boat.
“We need to interact with the central government so that it can help us,” Jelamu continued. “This is not only a problem in East Nusa Tenggara, but also in other remote areas such as Papua and Maluku. In other parts of the country, such as Java and Bali, they are Case rise. But they can easily use the road to distribute vaccines, but we cannot. “
Due to the limited supply, the need to ration the vaccine has had a knock-on effect on the residents of the province.
The population of East Nusa Tenggara is scattered across more than 1,000 islands, and vaccines must be distributed by plane, boat and sometimes on difficult terrain [File: Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP]On July 14, a group of people gathered in Kupang City outside the Polytechnic Institute, hoping to get vaccinated. However, only 250 vaccines are available, and more than 500 people have been waiting in line since the early hours of the morning, hoping to get the vaccine.
“The line was too long and everyone felt hungry and tired, so they broke the front door in frustration,” Pooh, who had a friend on the vaccine drive, told Al Jazeera.
When asked about this, Jeram told Al Jazeera that there is a high demand for vaccines in East Nusa Tenggara, and many residents worry that if they are not vaccinated, they will not be able to travel easily between islands or by road. When no vaccine is available at all, the tensions are just as serious.
In the more remote areas of East Nusa Tenggara, the situation is even more unstable.
In Sanoni Village, about a five-hour drive from Kupang, 75-year-old Maria Eta said she is still waiting for a vaccine, although she is in the high-risk priority category due to her age.
She told Al Jazeera: “They currently only vaccinate teachers here because they are not enough.”
Eta said that teachers in East Nusa Tenggara give priority to vaccination rather than the elderly, because in areas such as Sainoni Village, Internet coverage is incomplete and many students cannot use smartphones, making online teaching difficult. Therefore, many students still go to school in person and have to communicate face-to-face with the teacher.
ETA hopes she can get the vaccine as soon as possible, but is also worried about the logistics if there is a vaccine available.
“The nearest health clinic is a 45-minute walk from my village. I am old now, so I hope I can find someone to take me on a motorcycle,” she said.
[ad_2]
Source link