Jokowi: I Will Get Vaccinated First To Make Sure Vaccine Society Is Safe

President Joko Widodo (Photo: Indonesian Cabinet Secretariat)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo emphasized that he would be the first person to be injected with the COVID-19 vaccine. Jokowi did this to prove this vaccine is safe for use by the public.

"Later, I will be the first recipient, being vaccinated for the first time to give people confidence and confidence that vaccines are safe to use," Jokowi said in a video statement uploaded to the Presidential Secretariat YouTube account, Wednesday, December 16.

Jokowi said that the COVID-19 vaccine would be given free of charge to the public. This decision was taken after the government heard input from the public and recalculated state finances.

With the free cost of vaccines, in the future, there will be no more reasons for people to vaccinate.

It is known that the Indonesian government has prepared two schemes for the implementation of COVID-19 vaccination, namely the government program scheme and the independent scheme. For the procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine, the government program scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) and the independent scheme is implemented by the Ministry of BUMN. Of the immunization coverage target of 107 million people, 75 million are for the independent scheme target group, while 32 million are for the government program scheme.

Vaccination targets for government schemes are health workers in all health facilities, essential public servants and vulnerable groups of people. Meanwhile, the independent scheme includes other economic actors, namely BPJS participants, non-BPJS / other insurance, and public / private participants.

Meanwhile, based on the Decree of the Minister of Health Number 9860/2020, the types of vaccines in Indonesia have determined six types of COVID-19 vaccines that can be used, namely Bio Farma, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Moderna, Pfizer / Biotech, and Sinovac.

There is also a vaccine that currently exists in Indonesia, which comes from a Chinese pharmaceutical company, Sinovac. This vaccine arrived in Indonesia on 6 December.

However, the vaccine cannot be used because it is still waiting for phase III clinical trials and an emergency use permit from the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM).