Administer any booster available to avoid hospitalization, deaths

While the joy of Idul Fitri has lingered in many quarters, concerns loom over the country's low rate of COVID-19 booster coverage. The specter of a return to the high hospitalization and death rates of the first and second waves of the pandemic is haunting us.

Amid the global risk of new coronavirus variants, the government encouraged Idul Fitri mudik (exodus) travelers to get booster shots before departing. People who had received a third shot could skip certain health protocols on their trips, and in many places booster doses were readily available. The government had thought its new travel policy would significantly increase booster coverage.

However, as of May 3, the COVID-19 booster rate stood only at 19.39 percent of the targeted population, some 208.26 million people, Health Ministry data shows. This low rate can be attributed, in part, to public hesitancy to get another vaccine dose.