SMEs: Offices Who Get Booster Vaccines Are Very Embarrassing

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of the PKS Faction of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Mulyanto, assessed that information on officials who received booster vaccines was embarrassing. Because according to him, as a state official who is paid by the people, he should set a good example. Not the other way around, acting arbitrarily and putting one's own interests first.

"Officials should not set bad examples in the midst of people's suffering in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Do not justify that officials may violate the rules and hurt the sense of justice in society," said Mulyanto to reporters, Thursday, August 26.

According to Mulyanto, officials should prioritize vaccine doses 1 and 2 for the general public. Moreover, with the number of vaccines available, the percentage of the population is vaccinated and the vaccination speed is far from the target of 4 million per day.

Meanwhile, the third dose is only given to health workers, who are very susceptible to exposure. Considering the doses 1 and 2 they received were Sinovac vaccines with a mediocre level of efficacy. "So we need a booster," he said.

The member of Commission VII of the House of Representatives considered that if state officials wanted the third dose of vaccine, it should be given after the general public received the complete dose. "It's also good to use the Red and White vaccine that is being prepared," he added. Mulyanto asked the government to focus more on tackling the pandemic based on the principles of justice and public interest. Do not let, he said, this effort is undermined by bad examples that harm many parties.

"We should now focus on completing vaccination doses 1 and 2 for the general public. When it's finished, then give the third dose of vaccine to anyone who needs it. That's only fair," said Mulyanto reminded.

Mulyanto added, based on daily information from Our World in Data, the percentage of the Indonesian population who had been vaccinated was 21 percent. 9.4 percent of them had received the "complete" vaccine while the remaining 12 percent had just received the first dose of vaccine.

This figure is far behind vaccination coverage in India, which reaches 33 percent of the total population. Where 24 percent have received the complete vaccine and 9.6 percent have just received the first dose of vaccine.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's vaccine speed is still below 1 million people per day. Meanwhile, India has reached 4.6 million people per day.

"If we look at the data, we should be ashamed to play around with this serious problem. There is still a lot of homework that must be done to overcome this pandemic," said Mulyanto.