JAKARTA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia considers authorizing the second COVID-19 vaccination booster shot for healthcare workers after a rising number of new daily infections amid concerns over new omicron sub-variants.
The country's Health Ministry on Tuesday reported 6,483 new infections with 13 deaths in the past 24 hours.
"We are now studying the next booster shots for healthcare workers as some healthcare workers are getting infected," Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said during the launching of Satusehat, an application for healthcare data integration, here on Tuesday.
He added that the issue still needs insights from the experts.
Sadikin further emphasized that he has not set a target of when the second booster shot program will start, saying he needs to report to President Joko Widodo who is currently on his regional tour in East Asia.
Authorities in the country has continued to accelerate its national vaccination programs with more than 202.26 million people having received their first dose of vaccines, while over 169.88 million have taken the second dose.
At least 54.94 million people have received booster shots.
Home to more than 270 million people, Indonesia started mass COVID-19 vaccinations in January last year after the authorities approved the emergency use of China's Sinovac vaccine. ■
