Police Give Ice Cream to Persuade Children to Get Vaccinated

TheIndonesia.id - The North Cikarang Police handed out ice cream to elementary students during a vaccination to woo them into getting vaccinated.

During the vaccination program for children aged six to 11 in SDN Karang Asih in North Cikarang, Bekasi, officers from the police unit in the subdistrict distributed 400 pieces of ice cream to the students. The idea was to put them in a good mood and make them forget about their fear of needles.

“[We carried out] vaccination to reach herd immunity as we head towards the endemic, as well as to support the in-person learning activities in Bekasi regency. We offered 400 pieces of ice cream, so students could be happy and unafraid of needles. The ice cream was distributed to students who were vaccinated,” head of North Cikarang Police Pol. Commissioner Mustakim said in a statement on Wednesday, December 15.

He added that all students who took part in the program had been given permission by their parents in a form of a written agreement. They also had to be in a good health condition prior to getting the jab.

The program was held by the Indonesian Police (Polri) and the Indonesian Military (TNI) as an effort to accelerate the national plan of turning the COVID-19 pandemic into an endemic.

As reported, Indonesia started vaccinating children aged six to 11 on Tuesday, December 14, but only a handful of provinces have been allowed to roll out the vaccination.

As mandated by Minister of Home Affairs Instruction (Inmendagri) No. 66/2021, only regions in Indonesia that have achieved 70 percent of the first dose vaccination target and 60 percent of vaccination for its elderlies may vaccinate children aged six to 11.

Based on the criteria, 106 municipals and regencies in 11 provinces have met the requirements. The provinces are Banten, Yogyakarta, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, East Kalimantan, Riau Islands, West Nusa Tenggara, North Sulawesi, and Bali.

As part of West Java, Cikarang Utara is included on the list of regions eligible to vaccinate their young residents.

The COVID-19 vaccine will be administered intramuscularly and will be given in two doses at a 28-day interval. Medics will conduct standard screening before injecting the vaccine.

The government will use Sinovac vaccine as emergency use authorization (UEA) has been issued by the Drug and Food Control Agency (BPOM) earlier in November. 6.4 million doses are currently available for use until the end of December, with more doses to come in 2022.