Erick Thohir: 2 Days Again The Government Determines Priority Areas For Covid-19 Vaccination

Minister of BUMN, Erick Thohir. (Photo: Ministry of BUMN)

JAKARTA - The government in the near future, the government will also determine the priority areas for the distribution of the early stage COVID-19 vaccination. This is one of the various preparations made to ensure that the vaccination process can be carried out according to the target, namely the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021.

Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir stated that in the next two days, the government will decide which areas are priority for COVID-19 vaccination. This decision will be discussed together with the local government (pemda).

"Of course what we are waiting for, this decision is planned for the next 1-2 days. (We) also have a meeting with the governor and mayor to confirm one of them whether we will prioritize the red zone first, which is clear that the mortality and transmission rates are high. "We will prioritize the red zone first," he said, in a webinar, Tuesday, November 24.

Erick said the government will still prioritize vaccines for people aged 18 to 59 years. This is because the Sinovac vaccine, which will be used in this early stage of vaccination, is being tested on the population aged 18 to 59 years.

However, said Erick, in the future the policy will change according to developments in vaccine use. "The Ministry of Health certainly does not have one type of vaccine, not only Sinovac, there could be an additional 1-2 vaccines, so the number is 3," he said.

"When talking about different brands, for example X and Y outside Sinovac, of course the vulnerable age could be over 59 years old, Sinovac with later development could be over 18 to 59 years," he said.

Deputy Chair IV and Chief Executive of the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery (KPC-PEN) said that based on a number of recent researches, 66 percent of respondents said they really wanted to be injected with the COVID-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, the rest admitted that they did not want to get a vaccine.

"There are 16 percent who do not want the vaccine. Of course we do not force it, 16 percent do not want to be vaccinated. We do not know the reason," he explained.

If what makes people reluctant to vaccinate is the certainty that the products used are halal or haram, Erick said, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) will determine. Because, from the beginning MUI was involved.