Kemenpora Proposes 17 Priority Sports For COVID-19 Vaccine Recipients

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Youth and Sports (Kemenpora) will propose that athletes, coaches, and officials from 17 sports and the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) receive priority for COVID-19 vaccination from the government.

According to Sesmenpora Gatot S Dewa Broto, the 17 sports are badminton, weightlifting, archery, swimming, pencak silat, tennis, karate, taekwondo, judo, wushu, volleyball, shooting, gymnastics, chess, rowing, bowling, and surfing. .

Gatot said 17 branches and NPCs were prioritized to receive early stage vaccinations because they were scheduled to participate in international championships in the near future.

"Why are they prioritized? Because they will be dispatched to participate in a number of international events this year, ”said Gatot when contacted by Antara, Wednesday, January 13.

Gatot said that he had sent letters to the 17 main sports organizations and the NPC. He requested that data on athletes, coaches and officials be sent to the Ministry of Youth and Sports no later than Thursday at 12.00 WIB.

After receiving the data, Kemenpora will submit it to the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes). As for the vaccination schedule, according to Gatot, this falls under the authority of the Ministry of Health.

For now, the Ministry of Youth and Sports will only propose recipients of the initial stage of the COVID-19 vaccine for athletes and coaches who will participate in sports activities that are scheduled to be held in the near future.

There are several major sports activities that will be followed by Indonesia this year. Starting from single events to multi events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July to August and the Vietnam SEA Games in November. Meanwhile, for single events, there is the implementation of the Uber Thomas Cup, Sudirman Cup, and a series of super series tournaments in badminton.

"Others (from other sports) can still participate because according to the president's promise all the people will get a turn (vaccination)," concluded Gatot.