Nusantara Student Executive Board Rejects Commercialization Of COVID-19 Vaccine

JAKARTA - Center Coordinator of Nusantara Student Executive Board (BEM), Dimas Prayoga, expressed his rejection of efforts to commercialize the COVID-19 vaccine.

"While students and all elements of society are working together to make the vaccination program a success, it turns out that today the SOEs have turned vaccines into a business commodity," Dimas said, quoted by Antara, Sunday, July 12.

According to Dimas, students have tried to educate the public to continue to obey health protocols. In addition, students are also intensively providing education about the efficacy of vaccines to the public.

The existence of a paid vaccine is feared to make people choose not to be involved. Even though Indonesia must aggressively carry out vaccines as directed by President Joko Widodo in order to be free from the Coronavirus.

"We, from BEM Nusantara, have gone to great lengths to educate and provide awareness to the public so that they are willing to vaccinate in the hope that Indonesia can recover from COVID-19," said Dimas asserted.

According to Dimas, the attitude of SOEs has disappointed the students who have helped disseminate government policies.

"However, the attitude of SOEs today is very detrimental to human values," he said.

Because of that, Dimas and the students rejected the commercialization of vaccines. According to him, the attitude of the government is very inhumane.

“What is more important than politics is humanity. We, BEM Nusantara, are firm in rejecting the commercialization of vaccines," said Dimas.

However, Dimas assessed that President Joko Widodo's intention to help accelerate the vaccination program was good. Unfortunately, according to Dimas, this has been tarnished by the commercialization of the vaccine.

"We appreciate President Jokowi's efforts to complete this national vaccination program in order to break the chain of the spread of COVID-19 towards national economic recovery, lest there are parties who actually want to turn this into a business area," said Dimas.

Dimas asked Jokowi to reprimand the SOE Minister to cancel the policy.

The latest rules regarding mutual cooperation vaccinations are contained in the Minister of Health Regulation (Permenkes) Number 19 of 2021 concerning the Second Amendment to the Minister of Health Regulation Number 10 of 2021 concerning the Implementation of Vaccination in the Context of Combating the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Then the rules regarding the price of mutual cooperation vaccines are contained in the Decree of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia Number HK.01.07/Menkes/4643/2021 concerning the Determination of the Purchase Price of the Sinopharm Production Vaccine through the Appointment of PT Bio Farma (Persero) in the Implementation of the Procurement of the COVID-19 Vaccine and the Maximum Tariff Services for the Implementation of Mutual Cooperation Vaccination.

Kimia Farma Denies Looking For Profit

The Corporate Secretary of PT Kimia Farma Tbk, Change Winarno Putro, denied that SOEs seek profit in procuring paid COVID-19 vaccinations to individuals.

Change explained that in principle this state-owned company seeks to support the COVID-19 vaccination program in Indonesia through mutual cooperation vaccination, both for individuals and private companies.

"We, as one of the SOEs, support the acceleration and also for the expansion of this mutual cooperation vaccination. So it is not for commercialization," said Change in a webinar discussion, Sunday, July 11.

Moreover, he said, the paid vaccination fee for this individual follows the provisions of the Ministry of Health. Accompanied by the supervision of the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP).

"Everything is open, both in terms of price components and so on, and has been reviewed by an independent institution," he said.

PT Kimia Farma opens a paid vaccination service for individuals. This service is included in the Gotong Royong (VGR) vaccination program.

Kimia Farma has prepared 8 clinics in 6 cities for this self-vaccination service. The total individual VGR capacity of these 8 clinics is 1,700 participants per day.

Then, slowly, Kimia Farma will expand its reach, including shopping centers in big cities.

The purchase price of the vaccine is set at Rp321,660 per dose and the maximum tariff for vaccination services is Rp117,910 per dose. The vaccine used in this program is the Sinopharm vaccine.

The purchase price of the vaccine is set at Rp321,660 per dose and the maximum tariff for vaccination services is Rp117,910 per dose. The vaccine used in this program is the Sinopharm vaccine.