DPR Wants-Wanti From The Ministry Of Health Regarding Expired Vaccines, Cak Imin: Keep Watching

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The House of Representatives has warned the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) to pay close attention to expired vaccines, which have reached 1.1 million doses in the midst of efforts to boost booster vaccinations which began on January 12.

"I remind you that vaccines that are indicated to have expired continue to be watched," said Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar, Thursday, January 20.

"And those that have expired must be discarded immediately. Check the maps one by one and how many are in each area," he continued.

The deputy chairman of the DPR for the Korkesra sector also encouraged the active participation of the public not to hesitate to ask officers about the expiration date of the vaccine that would be injected.

"The community also needs to be proactive, yes, first ask the status of the vaccine before it is injected. Just in case the officers don't pay attention," he said.

The General Chairperson of the National Awakening Party (PKB) assessed that the Ministry of Health also needed to immediately evaluate the cause of the many vaccines that had not been used and were about to enter the expiration date.

"I hope there will be a thorough evaluation of this vaccine. How come up to 1.1 million doses have not been used, even want to expire. Do not let there be inequality with outside Java. Remember, there are still many residents who have not been able to vaccinate the first and second doses outside Java," explained Cak Imin, as he is called.

Cak Imin said the booster vaccination campaign was indeed good. However, he appealed to the practice not to neglect the primary vaccination target or the first and second doses for 70 percent of Indonesia's population.

“We must not neglect our main target to vaccinate 70 percent of the population. Instead of taking care of the booster, there are also many who claim that the first and second vaccines have not been vaccinated. That's not good," said Muhaimin.

Previously, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin revealed that 1.1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had expired. The majority of expired vaccines are free donations from developed countries.

"There are 1.121 million doses of expired vaccines until December 2021. Of that amount, 1.1 million expired are free donations, 98 percent are free donations," said Budi Gunadi, Wednesday, January 19.