DKI Also Vaccines Asylum Seekers, Anies: We Are Not Fully Protected Until Everyone Is Protected

JAKARTA - The DKI Provincial Government also provides vaccine injections for asylum seekers or refugees from other countries in the capital city. DKI Governor Anies Baswedan explained the reason he chose this step.

"I want to underline, this is a humanitarian duty. And the message is simple. 'We are not fully protected until everyone is protected'. That is an important message. It is impossible for us to be fully protected, if not all of us are protected," explained Anies after reviewing vaccinations for asylum seekers at the Bulungan Sports Center, South Jakarta, Thursday 7 October.

Anies is grateful that Jakarta can protect asylum seekers so that they feel comfortable and at ease in the capital city. The former Minister of Education and Culture said the hope of asylum seekers to find peace during the COVID pandemic could finally be realized through vaccinations starting today.

"We Jakartans should be grateful that we can protect our brothers and sisters of different nationalities who are refugees in our place so that they can feel at ease," said Anies.

On the other hand, Anies appreciated UNHCR because they have worked hard to facilitate the refugees so far. "We thank UNHCR. What they are doing is extraordinary humanitarian work," he said.

According to him, facilitating the refugees is not a simple job, but a complex task, ranging from basic needs to administration. He hopes that the initial vaccination for refugees will be a good start to completing the vaccination for around 7,000 asylum seekers in the capital.

"Today there are about 7,000 refugees in Jakarta. Hopefully, this can be completed so that in Jakarta all can be protected," he said.

Head of the Jakarta Chamber of Commerce, Diana Dewi, said that in this vaccination there were around 600 asylum seekers who took part in the first stage of vaccination at the Bulungan Sports Center with the Sinopharm vaccine.

The recipients of the vaccine came from 13 countries, namely Afghanistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Yemen, Sudan, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Uganda and Congo.

Diana explained that of the total recipients of the vaccine, Afghanistan became the largest contributor to asylum seekers with 313 people.