Ministry Of Health Reacts To Bekasi Walkot Plan To Give Teachers A Booster Vaccine

Vaccination photo illustration (Source: Antara)

JAKARTA - Bekasi Mayor, Rahmat Effendi or who is familiarly called Pepen, expressed his desire to carry out a third dose of COVID-19 vaccination or booster for teachers.

This has drawn criticism. Pepen's plan to vaccinate teachers has also been responded to by the Ministry of Health. The spokesperson for vaccination from the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, confirmed that at this time the central government had not allowed it.

"The Ministry of Health has not allowed a booster vaccination for teachers. Until now, the third dose of vaccine is only for health workers", said Nadia when confirmed by VOI, Saturday, October 9.

Nadia admitted that the management of the COVID-19 vaccine ratio given by the central government was left to the regional government. However, it must follow the applicable regulatory mechanism.

"In principle, the vaccines that are handed over to the regions are the responsibility of the regions. However, their use must follow the technical instructions from the center", said Nadia.

Pepen spoke about a vaccine booster for teachers a few days ago. Suddenly, this plan drew criticism from several NGOs who are members of the Community Coalition for Access to Health Justice, namely Transparency International Indonesia, LaporCovid-19, LBH Jakarta, ICW, YLBHI, Lokataru, LBH Masyarakat, and Indonesia for Global Justice.

In a statement, the Coalition considers the current booster vaccination plan for teachers violates the principles of equality and fairness of COVID-19 vaccines.

"The Bekasi City Government's plan has the potential to violate the principles of vaccine equity and justice and shows that vaccination is still being carried out haphazardly, thus violating the vaccine equity principle", the Coalition said in a statement.

The Coalition considers that the third dose of vaccination should not be given to the public except for health workers as long as the availability of the vaccine is still limited. Therefore, the Coalition asked Pepen to stop the plan.

"The Community Coalition for Access to Health Justice urges the government to stop the plan to give the third dose of vaccination outside the group of health workers so that vaccine distribution is more optimal", he said.

In response to this, Pepen explained the plan for the third dose of vaccination for teachers solely to ensure that the vaccine stock in his city does not expire. Moreover, according to him, teacher booster vaccination aims to increase immunity from the Coronavirus.

"We are preventive boosters for health workers and teachers. We take the initiative so that the vaccine does not expire", said Pepen.

"If the booster is for education staff so that the antibodies are stable. There's nothing wrong with that", he continued.

Meanwhile, regarding the condition of other regions that still have limited access to vaccinations when a booster for teachers is planned, Pepen admits that this is not his business.

"If I have a vaccine for Bekasi City, I will finish it for my community. Well, if there are people in West Java who don't have the vaccine, then there is Mr. Governor (Ridwan Kamil). If Mr. Governor is not getting the vaccine, there is Mr. Prisiden", said Pepen.

However, the third dose of vaccination for teachers has not yet been carried out. Pepen admitted that he was still pursuing the coverage of the first and second doses of vaccination for the general public.