The COVID-19 Vaccine Is Free, Are There Still Those Who Refuse?

Vaccine illustration (Photo by Daniel Schludi on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has announced that the COVID-19 vaccine will be given free of charge at no charge and said he would be the first vaccine recipient. Even so, it seems that the public still does not believe in the vaccines that will be used in the vaccination program to achieve herd immunity.

Through a video uploaded to the Presidential Secretariat YouTube account on Wednesday, December 16, Jokowi finally announced that the COVID-19 vaccine would be given free of charge. This decision is taken by the government after they have listened to input from the public and recalculated state finances.

"So after receiving input from the public and after recalculating, recalculating state finances, I can say that the COVID-19 vaccine for the public is free. There is no charge at all," Jokowi said at the time.

Not only that, he also said he would be the first to be vaccinated with the aim of making people believe in the safety of the vaccine that was being given.

Several days after the announcement, or to be precise on Friday, December 18, the former Governor of DKI Jakarta then asked the public not to refuse this vaccine. This was conveyed by him during the provision of working capital assistance to 30 micro and small entrepreneurs at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java.

Reported by Antara, Jokowi's statement that no public would refuse this vaccine began when he asked the participants who received capital assistance who wanted to be vaccinated to prevent exposure to COVID-19. However, none of these 30 participants answered the question.

"There are those who are present here who are vaccinated? Anyone who wants to be vaccinated? Can't anyone, how are you? Afraid of what? There are those who don't want to be vaccinated? Are you here who don't want to be vaccinated?" asked him.

Even though they have been asked like that, those who appeared before Jokowi were still silent and had doubts on their faces. Seeing this condition, Jokowi then repeated his question.

"I asked once again, who wanted the vaccine here? How come you didn't want it? I hope everyone will refuse," he said.

He considered that there was no longer any reason for the public to refuse vaccines. This is because he will also be vaccinated for the first time and this should show that the vaccine used is a safe item.

In addition, in the future this vaccine will also pocket halal certification. Moreover, all this time the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) together with the Ministry of Religion have visited the factory where the vaccine came from.

It is known that currently the vaccines that have arrived in Indonesia are those from the Chinese pharmaceutical company, Sinovac. This vaccine arrived in Indonesia in early December with a dosage of up to 1.2 million.

Not only that, based on the Decree of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia Number HK.01.07 / Menkes / 9860/2020 issued on December 3, it has been decided that there are six types of vaccines to be used in the country, namely Sinovac, Pfizer, PT Bio Farma, Sinopharm, AstraZeneca , and Moderna.

"MUI has also participated in the vaccine, the Ministry of Religion has arrived at the factory. Later, MUI will also issue a halal vaccine. So once again, who wants to be vaccinated, pointing fingers. Some don't point, don't want to? , "he said.

There is still resistance to the COVID-19 vaccine

Public policy observer from Trisakti University Trubus Rahardiansyah assessed that rejection will continue to occur even though President Jokowi has ensured that the vaccine is free and he will be the first to receive it. There are at least three reasons why people are still resistant to vaccines.

First, he said, the government has not yet explained in detail whether this free vaccine is for the six types of vaccines or only for the Sinovac vaccine that has just arrived. Second, the public seems unsure and still asks whether the president was sincere or not with his decision.

The third reason is that there are still people who think that President Jokowi is still in doubt about the decision he made and what he said was only part of an effort to calm down the uproar in the community.

In addition, when the vaccine is ready, the community will be divided into three groups. The first group is those who are afraid and aware of the dangers of COVID-19 so that they are ready to vaccinate.

The second group is those who do not believe and refuse to vaccinate. Lastly, it is the group that is still in doubt.

"So this means that there are definitely many people who refuse vaccines. This can also get worse if the government fails to administer vaccines, for example distribution of procurement and others," said Trubus when contacted by VOI.

Not only that, he also assessed that rejection could be even more massive when there was no transparency regarding the effectiveness and quality of the COVID-19 vaccine that would be given to the public.

"These things can later lead to rejection. So there must be public accountability, explaining who gets vaccinated, what kind of effect this must all be explained openly," he said.

Trubus did appreciate Jokowi's move to become the first vaccine recipient in Indonesia. But what needs to be remembered is the problem of implementation in the field related to giving vaccinations to the community.

So, in the future, the task of the government is to convince the public that this vaccine is safe to use. "Apart from that, a public participation approach is also needed to change behavior and others. So law enforcement is wrong. What should be encouraged is behavior change," he concluded.