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JAKARTA: Indonesia’s capital Jakarta threatens residents with fines of up to 5 million rupees ($ 356.89) for refusing COVID-19 vaccines, an unusually harsh sanction aimed at ensuring compliance with a new regulation that makes that vaccinations are mandatory.
Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria said city authorities were simply following the rules and such sanctions were a last resort in Jakarta, which accounts for about a quarter of the more than 1.2 million coronavirus infections. in the archipelago nation.
“If you reject it, there are two things, social aid will not be given, (and a) fine,” Riza told reporters.
Indonesia is battling one of Asia’s largest and most persistent coronavirus epidemics and aims to inoculate 181.5 million of its 270 million people in 15 months under a vaccination program that began last month.
READ: Indonesia kicks off second wave of COVID-19 vaccines
Almost 34,000 Indonesians are known to have died from the virus.
Indonesia announced a presidential order earlier this month that anyone who refused vaccines could be denied welfare or government services or could be made to pay a fine.
The sanction would be determined by regional health agencies or local governments.
“The sanctions are our latest effort to encourage people’s participation,” said Health Ministry Siti Nadia Tarmizi official. “The goal of 181.5 million people is huge.”
The new regulation follows months of public skepticism and lingering doubts about whether coronavirus vaccines are safe, effective, and halal, or allowed by Islam.
LEE: Indonesia’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign is delayed with a devastating pandemic
Public health experts say public nervousness over the vaccine could be a stumbling block, while health agencies in West Java, Indonesia’s most populous province, and West Nusa Tenggara have told Reuters they have no plans to make comply with sanctions.
A December poll by pollster Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting showed that only 37 percent of 1,202 respondents were willing to get vaccinated, 40 percent were undecided and 17 percent would refuse.
Usman Hamid, director of Amnesty International Indonesia, said that enforcing vaccines was not the answer.
“A blanket mandate on vaccination, especially one that includes criminal sanctions, is a clear violation of human rights,” Hamid said.
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