Special Vaccination Program an Ideal Solution

The government, should opt for the special vaccination program mechanism, where the cost of vaccination is borne by the government, as stipulated in Health Ministry Regulation No. 12/2017.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

A man crosses the Covid-19 health protocol mural on Jalan Lontar, Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, Sunday (13/12/2020). The socialization of the dangers of Covid-19 continues to be voiced amidst the increasing number of positive confirmed numbers for Covid-19 in the Capital City.

While COVID-19 vaccination is the key to achieving herd immunity, it needs to be implemented broadly and under a tight deadline. The government, therefore, should opt for the special vaccination program mechanism, where the cost of vaccination is borne by the government, as stipulated in Health Ministry Regulation No. 12/2017.

“The COVID-19 vaccine should be considered a public necessity. It is thus the state’s responsibility to provide it,” University of Indonesia (UI) School of Medicine dean Ari Fahrial Syam said in Jakarta on Sunday (13/12/2020). The COVID-19 vaccine, therefore, must be free for the public in order to achieve herd immunity.

Also read: Increase Target of the Government Vaccination Program

Griffith University epidemiologist Dicky Budiman has said that, according to Health Ministry Regulation (PMK) No. 12/2017, the COVID-19 vaccine should be included under the “special program” category. Article 9 of the regulation states that the special vaccination program aims to protect people from a certain disease in a “special situation”.

“The global pandemic, followed by the declaration of a national disaster status is a ‘special condition’. According to the regulation [PMK No. 12/2017], the special vaccination program is organized and covered by the state,” Dicky said.

Also read: Collaboration Necessary in COVID-19 Vaccine Efforts

JEFF J MITCHELL/POOL VIA AP

Paula McMahon prepares a shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, as the mass public vaccination program gets underway, at the NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuesday Dec. 8, 2020. The United Kingdom is beginning its vaccination campaign to inoculate people against the COVID-19 virus.

The government plans to provide the COVID-19 vaccine through two schemes, namely through a state-funded program, which covers 32 million people, and a private (paid) program, which will target 72 million people. The free vaccine will be provided to about 11 percent of Indonesia’s population (Kompas 11/12/2020).

Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto said the number of free vaccine recipients was determined according to a Finance Ministry calculation that estimated that 78 million Indonesians could afford the vaccine. The government will only cover the cost of inoculation for 32 million of the 107 million people targeted to receive COVID-19 vaccines by 2022. The vaccination program will target 67 percent of the 167 million people in the country aged between 18 and 56 years.

Also read: Vaccine Supply Follows WHO Standards

However, the number of vaccine recipients could still change. The government’s vaccination target has yet to include those who will receive the vaccine through multilateral cooperation, namely the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the GAVI vaccine alliance under the COVAX Facility, in which Indonesia will receive COVID-19 vaccines for 20 percent of its population, or 54 million people.

Apart from contradicting PMK No. 12/2017, Dicky said the government’s private vaccination scheme would potentially trigger vaccine commercialization. Many countries, including Australia, India, Brazil and Malaysia, will make their vaccination program free to their citizens. “Even if [the vaccination program is] free, the target to cover the vaccination for at least 70 percent of population is still hard,” Dicky said.

Kompas

A member of staff holds a phial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Southmead Hospital, Briston on December 8, 2020. - Britain on December 8 hailed a turning point in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, as it begins the biggest vaccination programme in the country\'s history with a new Covid-19 jab.

Early vaccine orders

State-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma emphasized that the government had not yet established a scheme for people who wanted to pay for the vaccine themselves. Health service providers are being asked to wait for an official announcement on how to order the vaccine.

This is to respond the circulation of the COVID-19 vaccine’s early order promotion by a number of parties. Bio Farma has developed its own ordering system for the private vaccination scheme.

Also read: Bio Farma Ready to Process Vaccine Raw Materials

“The government had yet to regulate such a program. And most importantly, the vaccination itself will have to wait for the BPOM [Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency] to permit the use of the vaccines," Bio Farma spokesman Bambang Heriyanto said.

In regard to the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine, Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology deputy chairman David H Muljono said that apart from the wide coverage of the vaccination program, the vaccine’s efficacy is highly necessary in ensuring the effectiveness of vaccine in achieving herd immunity.

Also read: Vaccination Pending Scientific Study

So far, the efficacy of the vaccine made by China’s Sinovac Biotech, which has arrived in Indonesia, has yet to be proven. “We must wait for the results of the clinical trials. [The vaccination program] will be hard to be carried out if it turns out that the efficacy of the vaccine is below 50 percent,” he said.

Vaccines with high levels of efficacy, such as those developed by US-based Moderna, the US-German collaboration between Pfizer and BioNTech and United Kingdom-based AstraZeneca, will be difficult to be procure in the near future. “This is because the vaccine manufacturers are prioritizing developed countries and countries involved in the third phase of clinical trials of the vaccine for ordering. India is participating in a lot of clinical trials, so they are able to access the vaccine,” he said. (AIK/TAN/MTK/TAM/MEL)