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JAKARTA – President Joko Widodo announced on Wednesday (December 16) that he will be the first recipient of a Covid-19 vaccine in Indonesia and that the vaccine will be available free of charge to all Indonesians.
“I want to emphasize once again that I will be the first to be vaccinated. This is to build confidence and certainty among the public that vaccines are safe,” he said in a speech from the presidential palace broadcast live on YouTube.
Joko, 59, also said that after receiving many suggestions and recalculating state finances, she decided that the vaccines would be free for Indonesians.
“I ordered the finance minister to prioritize (the vaccination program) and reallocate (the state budget) to provide free vaccines so that there is no reason why people cannot access them,” he said.
An online survey conducted by the Ministry of Health found that about 64.8 percent of the participants wanted to receive the vaccine once the vaccines are available to the public, while 27.6 percent doubted the vaccination plan. of the government and almost 7.6 percent rejected it.
Only 35 percent of those who wanted the injections were willing to pay for them, while 38 percent would not want to pay, and the rest were undecided.
The survey, which involved more than 115,000 participants across the archipelago, was conducted together with the Indonesian Immunization Technical Advisory Group from September 19 to 30 with the support of UNICEF and the World Health Organization.
Indonesia, which has the world’s fourth-largest population of around 270 million, received the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines, totaling 1.2 million doses of Sinovac Biotech from China, on December 6.
It hopes to begin vaccinating its 18- to 59-year-old workforce, which is considered more mobile due to their occupations.
A target of 246 million doses has been set to cover 107 million people, or 67% of the target group, which represents almost 40% of its total population.
Sinovac and Novavax will help meet 155.5 million doses. Indonesia is in talks with other manufacturers, such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Covax, to get the rest.
An implementation date will be set after your BPOM drug monitoring agency grants the emergency use authorization, which is expected early next year.
Under his current plan, Indonesians working on the front lines in the battle against the pandemic, such as healthcare workers, police and military personnel, are ready to receive the first vaccines.
This strategy is in contrast to other countries that have started providing vaccines to the elderly and vulnerable first, such as Britain, which began its vaccination program with a 91-year-old woman last week.
The United States began its vaccination program this week, in accordance with the recommendation of its Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide vaccines to healthcare workers and nursing home residents, followed by people with medical conditions. pre-existing.
Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto previously said that the elderly, people with existing health problems and pregnant women are not included in Indonesia’s priority list for the vaccination program because it does not have the data to guarantee their safety. of the vaccine. Sinovac injections were tested only in people between the ages of 18 and 59.
Indonesia has recorded 636,154 Covid-19 cases and 19,248 deaths as of Wednesday, the worst in both cases in Southeast Asia.
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