The Government Asks For Cooperation Regarding The Proposed Independent Vaccination

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JAKARTA - The task force responded to the COVID-19 vaccination independently. Although he said he appreciated the suggestion, the implementation of the vaccination would still run according to what had been previously determined.

This independent vaccine proposal came from the Chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) Jusuf Kalla. At the end of January, he said, the independent COVID-19 vaccination could accelerate the government's steps to reach the target of injecting 70 percent of the population.

The purpose of independent vaccination is so that the public can access vaccines for a fee.

"If vaccinations are to be completed within a year, at least 1 million vaccines are needed per day. This cannot be implemented by the government alone", said JK in his statement.

So, he supports this plan to accelerate the delivery of vaccines. "We support the vaccination efforts independently or in mutual cooperation because this will accelerate the process", he said.

He also gave an example that private companies can do independent vaccination for their employees. The hope is that if this is done, the company can return to normal work and encourage national economic recovery.

"Say, a cigarette factory has up to 25,000 employees, if the vaccination is covered by the company, that means it is free too and will ease the burden on the government and the people", he explained.

This proposal was then answered by Wiku Adisasmito, Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force. Although he did not answer explicitly, he asked all parties to work together to make the vaccination program in the country a success by carrying out the vaccination stages that have been determined by the government.

"Please cooperate with each other for the success of the vaccination program, including carrying out the vaccination stage under the government officials' permission", he said at a press conference broadcasted on the Presidential Secretariat YouTube channel, Tuesday, February 9.

This vaccination, said Wiku, must be carried out by the community according to the criteria. At least 70 percent of the population must be injected with vaccines to achieve community immunity against this pandemic.

"So, community immunity, which is our goal at the moment, is at least 70 percent of the public being vaccinated. So that in the end all people who meet the vaccine criteria will be vaccinated and what is different is only the timing of its administration", he said.

"In principle, the government prioritizes vaccines to those who are at risk in stages according to medical ethics", added Wiku.

The government's answer is also in line with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which had advised the government to postpone the independent vaccination program. According to the Corruption Eradication Commission Deputy Chairman, Nurul Ghufron, this program needs to be postponed until the free vaccination program is completed.

He also said that the government must prioritize the free vaccine program which will be carried out in four stages so that it does not interfere with its implementation.

"In order not to interfere with the free national vaccination process, then the procurement of independent vaccines which are complementary, while the free ones are prioritized", said Ghufron some time ago at the Corruption Eradication Commission's Red and White House, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta.

In addition, the anti-graft commission also suggested that the free vaccination program be carried out openly, starting from determining who can be vaccinated to the registration process. "The public also knows that those who are registered can access, this is an escort for effective vaccine procurement", he said.

"So independent vaccines are needed but the timing is so that after vaccination is free. This is what the KPK recommends", added Ghufron.

As previously reported, the first batch of vaccinations will be carried out from January to April 2021 with the target of 1.3 million health workers in 34 provinces, 17.4 million public officers, and 21.5 million elderly citizens.

The second batch of vaccinations will be carried out from April 2021 to March 2022 with a target of 63.9 million people in areas with high transmission risk and 77.4 million other community members using a cluster approach according to the availability of vaccines.

The government has confirmed orders for 329.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from several vaccine manufacturers, including the Chinese pharmaceutical company, Sinovac; US-Canadian vaccine manufacturer Novavax; British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca; and the German and US pharmaceutical company Pfizer BioNTech.

Regarding the provision of vaccines to health workers, as of Friday, February 5 yesterday, out of a total target of 1.4 people, the government has currently carried out stage one vaccinations for 744.884 people. Meanwhile, health workers who have received the second phase of vaccination reached 120.725 people.