Arya Sinulingga: Free Gotong Royong Vaccine Is A Form Of Entrepreneurial Commitment To Protect Employees

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - PMO Coordinator for Public Communication Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery (KPCPEN) Arya Sinulingga said the government welcomed the company's desire to bear the cost of vaccines for employees.

Arya said, the mutual cooperation vaccine program is a form of employer's commitment to protect employees. Currently, according to him, the government is working on regulations for the implementation of the mutual aid vaccine.

"The main thing is that employees are given free (paid by employers)," he said, in a webinar entitled 'Welcoming the Mutual Cooperation Vaccine', Tuesday, February 23.

Regarding the procurement of vaccines, said Arya, the recommendation from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for the procurement of vaccines was fixed through Bio Farma as the holding for pharmaceutical BUMN.

"Regarding the procurement from the KPK, they ask that there are not many parties, until today information is still from the Bio Farma group which is the procurement (mutual cooperation) vaccine," he said.

Currently, said Arya, the government is still waiting for data on companies and employees who will join the mutual cooperation vaccine program. The government has also been in talks with vaccine manufacturers such as Sinopharm.

"There have been several discussions, for example with Sinopharm, we have not dealt with it. We don't know the number yet, we are still waiting for the data, but our calculation is around five million to 10 million (employees)," said Arya.

In addition, Arya emphasized, this mutual aid vaccine program would not interfere with the free vaccination program which is currently running. This is because the type of mutual cooperation vaccine will be different from the free vaccination from the government.

According to Arya, the mutual aid vaccine program has a number of challenges, one of which is related to the availability of the vaccine supply itself. The government is trying to get a vaccine at an affordable price so as not to burden companies too much.

Furthermore, Arya hopes that the support of companies that bear the cost of vaccinating employees can assist the government in accelerating vaccination and creating target group immunity.