Kimia Farma Sells Vaccines, Erick Thohir: It's Impossible To Commercialize Donated Vaccines

Minister of SOEs, Erick Thohir. (Photo: Doc. Setkab)

JAKARTA - The Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN), Erick Thohir, spoke about allegations of commercialization of individual or paid Gotong Royong vaccinations that will be held by PT Kimia Farma Tbk. He denied that the government wanted to commercialize the donated vaccine.

For your information, Kimia Farma's paid vaccination is valued at IDR 879,140 for two doses for individuals or individuals.

"Yesterday there were accusations, oh maybe this is a donated vaccine, oh this etc. Masyaallah, I don't think my team and I are from that section, we can't commercialize donated vaccines, masyaallah," he said, quoted Wednesday, July 14. .

Erick said that the Gotong Royong vaccination funding budget itself was not absorbed from the State Budget (APBN). He emphasized that the procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine used corporate finance which was carried out directly by the BUMN Pharmaceutical Holding.

"Nothing is covered up, for example when there are accusations, oh this (vaccination) uses the APBN, the Mutual Cooperation vaccine from the start did not use the APBN," he said.

Therefore, Erick requested that the group that builds the opinion of the commercialization of the COVID-19 vaccine to look at the facts that are happening on the ground. The fact he meant was the large contribution of Pharmaceutical SOEs and other sectors since the COVID-19 pandemic took place.

"So if the accusation is that this BUMN is doing business, now look at it from the other side? Now we have been helping a lot," he explained.

Erick said that the paid vaccine is only to speed up the vaccination program. With the delta variant of COVID-19, said Erick, the government must be quick to vaccinate. Because, of all deaths, more of them have never been vaccinated.

"With this delta variant yesterday, if we remember the figure, more than 60 thousand have died from COVID-19. One of them is the acceleration of this vaccination as initial protection. Because even if you have been vaccinated, it is not fatal, and it is proven that the data are mostly sorry. those who died were those who had not been vaccinated. Now, the acceleration of this vaccination must now be carried out," he explained.

Kimia Farma suspends paid vaccine program

PT Kimia Farma (Persero) Tbk has decided to postpone the implementation of the paid mutual cooperation COVID-19 vaccine which was supposed to be held from today. This delay is in line with the emergence of polemics regarding the plan.

Kimia Farma Corporate Secretary Change Winarno Putro explained that the postponement was due to the high interest and questions that came in.

"We apologize that the Individual Mutual Assistance Vaccination schedule, which originally started on Monday, July 12, 2021, will be postponed until further notice," he said when contacted by reporters, Monday, July 12.

Furthermore, he said, his party was delaying while socializing paid vaccines and arranging the registration of prospective vaccination participants.

"The amount of interest and the many questions that came in made the management decide to extend the socialization period for individual mutual cooperation vaccinations and arrangements for registration of prospective participants," he said.

For your information, previously the government planned to start selling paid vaccines via Kimia Farma starting Monday, July 12. The program runs in tandem with the entrepreneur gotong royong program which has been criticized for being slow.

Meanwhile, Kimia Farma's paid vaccination is valued at Rp. 879,140 for two doses for individuals or individuals.

However, before the opening of the paid vaccine program, various criticisms came from various parties. One of them is the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Union (KSPI).

Indonesian workers support the government's efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic by vaccinating. However, KSPI disputed the administration of the vaccine which was paid for by PT Kimia Farma Tbk.

KSPI President Said Iqbal said he was worried if Kimia Farma's paid vaccination plan would continue. He suspects that there will be commercialization that will only benefit certain parties.

"Every buying and selling transaction in the economic process has the potential to cause commercialization by producers who produce vaccines and the government as regulators, to consumers, in this case the people, including workers who receive vaccines," he said in a written statement received by VOI, Monday, July 12.

Meanwhile, Member of Commission IX DPR RI Netty Prasetiyani considered that the policy was a way of making profit from the people. He also admitted that this policy had not been discussed with the DPR.

"Vaccination to overcome non-natural disasters such as pandemics is the responsibility of the state for the safety of its people. Every individual must have equal and equitable access through free vaccination. So, the paid vaccine option is like an effort to make profits by extorting the people," said Netty.