Third Dose Of Vaccine Officials When Health Workers Fall, And President Jokowi's Response Is Joking

JAKARTA - Conversations between President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) with a number of officials leaked. The officials said they had received a third dose of the booster vaccine when health workers died and thousands of people had to be crammed in line to get the vaccine. Worst of all, the officials were joking for their greed. Remember their names.

The officials' confessions were conveyed to Jokowi when reviewing vaccinations at SMPN 22 Samarinda City, East Kalimantan, Tuesday, August 24. Jokowi was accompanied by Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, TNI Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, East Kalimantan Governor Isran Noor, and Samarinda Mayor Andi Harun.

In the recorded video, officials talk about the Nusantara Vaccine pioneered by former Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto. The conversation extends to the third dose of the booster vaccine. Andi Harun then said he was planning a third booster vaccine injection using the Nusantara Vaccine. Jokowi, the leader of this country, responded jokingly.

"Oh, it's good to be fresh, Mr. Mayor. This is Mr. Mayor ahead of us," said Jokowi, laughing.

The President then asked the Commander in Chief, Hadi Tjahjanto, whether Hadi had received the Nusantara Vaccine. Hadi replied, "Yes."

The President again responded to Hadi jokingly. "Not inviting us, yes," the President said.

Continuing the chat, it was Governor Isran Noor's turn who claimed to have received a booster vaccine. He was injected with Moderna. "I've been a booster, only Moderna," said Isran.

Prabowo chimed in, asking Jokowi back. "All have boosters. Mr President, haven't you?"

"No, I'm waiting for Pfizer," Jokowi replied.

Journalists who monitored the activity via live streaming on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube channel then reported on the conversations between officials. The news immediately went viral and drew criticism. The original video was taken down before being replaced with another video upload that has gone through the editing process. Until this news was written, there has been no official statement from the Palace.

The official third dose of vaccine is evidence of leakage of vaccine distribution. Circular Letter (SE) of the Ministry of Health Number HK.02.01/1919/2021 states that booster vaccines are only for health workers or health support personnel who have been vaccinated with the first and second doses.

Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Doctor Siti Nadia Tarmizi responded briefly to the VOI statement. "According to the circular letter of the Director General of P2P, the booster is only for health workers," he wrote via text message, Wednesday, August 25.

However, it is impossible to rule out the fact that some officials claim to have received a third dose of the vaccine. "We are only in accordance with the SE and using this, the Health Office must make an integrity pact to ensure the target is right," Nadia replied.

Trisakti University public policy analyst Trubus Rahadiansyah said the problem of vaccine distribution was problematic from the start. There is poor coordination between the Ministry of Health as the regulator and data provider and the local government as the implementer of vaccination.

"The distribution is uneven because the data that makes it is the Ministry of Health. So the Ministry of Health has the data, allocates it directly to regencies/cities. So the provinces are just a transit. In that allocation, there are districts that get more. There are districts that get less. So uneven," Trubus told VOI.

The community coalition, LaporCovid-19 revealed the vulnerability of the third dose of vaccine misuse in the regions. Weak central government oversight is a problem. LaporCovid-19 encourages concrete and significant steps to address the issue of equal distribution of vaccinations.

"We believe that booster vaccines are an iceberg phenomenon. Little has been confirmed, but so much has been unseen... Practices like this show the attitude of greedy public officials," they wrote in a statement posted on their Twitter account, @LaporCovid.

Data from LaporCovid-19 recorded 1,459 health workers died due to being infected with the corona virus. The data collected until July 21, 2021, shows that the deaths of health workers are dominated by doctors with the number of deaths up to 545 people. In addition to doctors, nurses are also the most at risk with the number of deaths up to 453 people.

Others, 235 midwives, 47 pharmacists, 46 dentists, 43 medical laboratory personnel, nine radiology records officers, and five sanitarians died due to COVID-19. Dental therapists, electromedical personnel, pharmacists and ambulance workers all recorded three deaths. The data also records another 60 deaths due to COVID-19 from other health workers sectors.

Epidemiologist at Griffith University, Australia, Dicky Budiman, sees this issue as another evidence of the Indonesian government's inconsistency in implementing pandemic control policies. The government is also considered to have put science aside in implementing policies. Again and again. Various studies agree that the third dose of vaccine is only effective for high-risk groups.

"The (research) results are the same that the booster will be effective if it is given to the most vulnerable groups, namely health workers or the elderly who have comorbidities or have the highest risk. That will have an impact," Dicky told VOI.

"What impact? Yes it reduces pain, death. We are once again sending a bad message to the public about the problem of injustice. The problem of inconsistency. This has no light impact. It's serious."

What Dicky said was in line with a number of research results. The British Medical Journal Study, for example. The study shows that giving the third dose of vaccine has been scientifically proven to significantly increase immunity.

But the study also showed that the immune system produced by the third dose of the vaccine was too strong to fight the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2. For this reason, the third dose of vaccine is only recommended for high-risk groups, especially health workers.

And reflecting on the handling of the H1NI virus, ignoring the health and protection of health workers is the same as increasing the potential for the outbreak to worsen because health workers are an important force in controlling the outbreak itself. The correlation was presented in the Journal of Pharmacy and Therapeutics.

With all the problems above, Jokowi's response is joking.

"Oh, it's good to be fresh, Mr. Mayor. This is Mr. Mayor ahead of us."

"Not inviting us, huh."

*Read other information about COVID-19 or read other interesting articles from Yudhistira Mahabharata.