Erick Thohir: The Arrival Of The COVID-19 Vaccine Is Evidence Of The Government's Efforts To 'lighten' People's Needs

Minister of BUMN, Erick Thohir. (Photo: Ministry of BUMN)

JAKARTA - BUMN Minister Erick Thohir said that the arrival of the first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine is proof of the strength of mutual cooperation between ministries and institutions.

"Alhamdulillah, we are grateful that the COVID-19 vaccine has begun to arrive gradually in Indonesia. This is a step forward evidence of strong collaboration across Ministries and Institutions, both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance, the POM, Biofarma as well as Garuda. also supported by all Regional Governments, TNI and Polri, "said Minister Erick quoted from Antara, Wednesday, December 9.

On Sunday night, December 6, as many as 1.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Sinovac products, arrived in Indonesia and are now stored in Bio Farma cold storage, Bandung, West Java.

He said the vaccine that had arrived was a vaccine from government assistance. The government's promise in procuring vaccines as soon as possible to tackle COVID-19 in Indonesia is starting to be fulfilled.

"As stated by the Minister of Health, the vaccines that have arrived are government-assisted vaccines. Meanwhile, some will be aimed at independent vaccines. Vaccinations will be carried out after obtaining BPOM and MUI permits and the plan will arrive in January next year," said Erick. who is also the Chief Executive of the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery (KPCPEN).

He added that the Mandiri vaccine is targeted at well-off people, and the government will cooperate with Kadin and other business associations.

"The solution to this pandemic is mutual cooperation. Mutual cooperation maintains health protocols, mutual cooperation helps those affected. Likewise with vaccination, I invite the community to be able to work together and we have communicated with Kadin and many other associations," said Erick.

Apart from vaccinations, he continued, the government continues to strive to alleviate people's needs with village cash assistance (BLT), subsidized salaries, grants from the President for Micro Enterprises.

"The government assistance program will continue to be implemented and added in the next year to help the community in facing their difficulties and also to increase people's purchasing power," he said.

Separately, the Chairman of Kadin, Rosan Roslani said that his party has coordinated with the Chief Executive of KPCPEN because many entrepreneurs are willing to vaccinate their employees.

"This is because we care about the health of our employees, besides maintaining their work productivity, not to mention that employers have corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs to help the surrounding community," he said.