Don't Try To Refuse Vaccines, There Are Penalty Sanctions

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Indonesian President Joko Widodo issued a presidential regulation that stipulates, among other things, the application of administrative and criminal sanctions for people who refuse to administer the COVID-19 vaccination.

This regulation is contained in Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 14 Year 2021 regarding Amendments to Presidential Decree No. 99 Year 2020 regarding Vaccines Procurement and Implementation of Vaccinations in the Context of Combating the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Seen on the setneg.go.id page on Sunday, February 14 in Presidential Decree No. 14/2021 there is a change between Article 13 and Article 14, namely setting aside two articles, namely Article 13A and Article 13B so that it reads:

Article 13A

(1) The Ministry of Health collects data and sets targets for COVID-19 vaccine recipients.

(2) Every person who has been designated as a target recipient of the COVID-19 vaccine based on the data collection as referred to in paragraph (1) is obliged to participate in the COVID-19 vaccination.

(3) Exemption from the obligation as referred to in Paragraph (2) is for the target recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine who do not meet the criteria for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine according to the indication of the available COVID-19 vaccine.

(4) Every person who has been designated as a target recipient of the COVID-19 vaccine who does not participate in the COVID-19 vaccination as referred to in paragraph (2) may be subject to administrative sanctions in the form of:

a. postponement or termination of the provision of social security or social assistance;

b. suspension or termination of government administration services; and/or

c. fine.

(5) The administrative sanctions as referred to in paragraph (4) shall be imposed by ministries, agencies, regional governments, or agencies in accordance with their respective authorities.

Article 13B

Any person who has been designated as a target recipient of the COVID-19 vaccine, who does not participate in the COVID-19 vaccination as referred to in Article 13A Paragraph (2) and causes obstruction to the implementation of the prevention of the spread of COVID-19, in addition to being subject to sanctions as referred to in Article 13A paragraph a, may subject to sanctions in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Contagious Disease Outbreaks.

The law in question is Law No. 4 Year 1984 on Communicable Disease Outbreaks.

Article 14 of the Law states:

(1) Anyone who deliberately obstructs the implementation of epidemic control as regulated in this Law is punishable by a maximum imprisonment of 1 year and/or a maximum fine of IDR 1 million;

(2) Any person who due to his/her negligence obstructs the implementation of epidemic control as regulated in this Law, shall be punished with a maximum imprisonment of 6 months and/or a maximum fine of IDR 500 thousand.

Article 15

(1) Any person who deliberately mismanages materials as regulated in this law so as to cause an epidemic is punishable by imprisonment of up to 10 years and/or a maximum fine of IDR 100 million;

(2) Any person who due to his/her negligence manages the materials as regulated in this law that can cause an epidemic, shall be punished with a maximum imprisonment of 1 year and/or a maximum fine of IDR 10 million;

(3) If the criminal act as meant in paragraph (1) is committed by a legal entity, it shall be punished with additional punishment in the form of revocation of business license.

Presidential Decree No. 14/2021 comes into force on February 10, 2021.

The government is targeting COVID-19 vaccination against 181.5 million Indonesians to create communal immunity.

Based on data from the Ministry of Health until Saturday (13/2), the number of health workers who had received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccination reached 1,060,326 people.

Meanwhile, the number of health workers who have been injected with the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine reached 415,486 people. This was reported by Antara.