Even for Covid-19 survivors, the vaccine provides life expectancy.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, by Zainur Mahsir Ramadhan
It didn’t take long for a senior journalist, Latief Siregar, to tell him how he fought against Covid-19. For a Covid-19 survivor the vaccination is a hope.
Vaccinations that were still gray, he said, led him to a determination to recover. Mainly, when the image of life when he was treated he felt faded, because the condition had worsened.
“At that time I was sick, and (imagined) what life would be like after Covid-19, will I die?” Said the deputy editor in chief of MNC News.
Latief recalled that when he first contracted the plague, suspicions of who was the trigger were indeed raised. Moreover, when two of his friends who had interacted were also reported positive.
Soon, this suspicion was removed, considering that anyone could be exposed to an invisible plague. Until finally in mid-August, when he was treated at the Covid-19 referral hospital, that thought was increasingly distracted by his condition.
When he was treated at a referral hospital, he was on the third floor. Floors with effects that are classified as mild symptoms. However, the oxygen saturation that had dropped to 90 percent forced him to be lowered to the second floor to use a ventilator.
” And said the nurse, if my saturation drops again, I will lower the floor again. To the first floor, the morgue, ” he recalled.
If you look back before testing positive, he admitted that he was an individual who strictly adhered to health protocols. However, he admitted that he did not want to make a fuss about it, considering the many thoughts outside that had to be given space.
“But if I am obedient I can get Covid, let alone those who are not,” he added.
Comparing with his condition before being infected, Latief admitted to always exercising, running dozens of kilometers. However, at this time, he felt that he could not do this. “ I feel there is a residue from the Covid-19 disease. After I recovered, let alone running, I had a hard time going to the bathroom too, ” he said.
Chairman of the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI), Prof. Sri Rezeki, said vaccines can indeed be said to be an effective preventive measure. He added, as a tool that contains biological substances, vaccines are also useful as specific antigens for viruses. Therefore, vaccination with a certain dose, can achieve immunity against certain viruses.
However, in responding to demands for vaccination of the entire community, he rejected it. Because, according to medical science, vaccination does not have to be given to everyone in a country.
“Most of it is enough, the goal is to limit the ability of pathogens to spread. So, from there, people who are not vaccinated can also be healthy and immune, ” said the Professor of Medical Sciences at UI.
If calculated, to achieve herd immumunity, he said, there are immunizations that must be done at a certain amount. Mainly, to break the chain of transmission.
He continued, the R0 Covid-19, which amounts to 2.5 people, must be calculated using a certain formula to see how many should receive the vaccine. According to his calculations, if R0 = 2.5 then, P + 1- 1/3 = 2/3 x 100 percent = 60/70 percent of the population. Therefore, at least the total population in Indonesia that must receive vaccines in order to achieve herd immunity is 164 to 191 million people out of a total of 274 million Indonesians.
Referring to vaccines, strengthening immunity, he said, is important to illustrate. However, the main purpose of vaccination is how to train the immune system to recognize and fight pathogens.
He emphasized that to anticipate Post-Immunization Follow-Up Events (KIPI) there needs to be strict supervision. The reason is, it is feared that there will be an effect that is not caused by the vaccine at all, but is transferred to the vaccine itself.
” For example, after the vaccine, that person gets dengue fever, even though it’s not because of the vaccine. So it is as if the vaccine becomes AEFI, ” he said.
He added that KIPI could indeed happen. Generally, it can be a symptom or clinical sign caused by a lab abnormality or a disease. Although, it is not related to the vaccine itself.
He does not deny causality KIPI indeed there is a serious phase. Whether it requires further care, disability and death. Referring to WHO, according to him, this was due to an error in immunization.
Therefore, in anticipation of the future, he hoped the Puskesmas would be the spearhead in immunization. So, those who have registered for the immunization vaccine, the injection is carried out at the health center, in addition to the hospital considering the limited number of medical personnel.
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