Private Sector to Participate in Covid-19 Vaccination Program
Vaccination is a social, not individual, activity, as it is not intended to protect individuals or certain groups of people, but to achieve herd immunity to Covid-19.
By
KOMPAS TEAM
·5 minutes read
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – To help accelerate the delivery of the Covid-19 vaccines, the private sector is to be involved in the nationwide vaccination program. Under its new role the program, the government is allowing private companies to independently administer the free vaccines to employees outside the formal government program.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said the Covid-19 vaccination program needed to be delivered as quickly as possible to a maximum number of recipients. The program’s current resources, such as vaccinators, puskesmas (community health centers), and hospitals, are deemed to have sufficient capacity to carry out the vaccination program for one year, as per the initial target.
"How to further speed up (vaccination)? Many employers have asked if independent vaccination will be allowed. We will make a decision. We need to accelerate, we need as many [contributors] as possible,” the President said in his keynote speech at the Kompas100 CEO Forum themed “Let\'s Collaborate: Rising in Pandemic Era" (sic), which was held virtually on Thursday.
Many employers have asked if independent vaccination will be allowed.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that vaccination was a socialistic, not individualistic, activity, because it was not intended to protect individuals or certain groups, but to achieve herd immunity.
Therefore, independent vaccination drives would be allowed, as long as they were conducted according to the three basic principles of the national program.
First, the vaccination program aims to achieve herd immunity, as they were not intended to protect an individual or certain groups, but all citizens. Second, vaccination is for all people, so no social group may be given exclusive priority (except for those as determined by the government}. Third, Covid-19 vaccines must be given free of charge as the right of all citizens in accordance with the President\'s decision.
"If you want to help [with the vaccination program] you may, but you must understand these three principles. It must be understood that vaccination has to begin with health workers, public workers, and the elderly. And at the end of April-May, it will be administered to the general public. If you want to skip [any stage], think about the impact [it will have] on other people. There is no point if we get an injection but others don\'t,” said Jokowi.
On the same day, the government held a limited Cabinet meeting at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta. One of the topics of discussion was the private administration of the Covid-19 vaccines. Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto said the government was preparing a regulation for independent vaccination drives.
"The rule will regulate vaccine purchases by certain industrial sectors, which are to be given to employees for free," he said. The regulation would also regulate technical aspects of independent vaccination drives. According to the draft plan, the vaccines for independent vaccination drives were to be sourced from different suppliers than the government’s.
Budi also explained that the first stage of the Covid-19 vaccination program would run from January to April with the targeted recipients to comprise 1.48 million health workers, 17.4 million public workers, and 21.5 million elderly people. The second stage would run from April 2021 to March 2022 and target 65.9 million vulnerable people in areas with a high risk of infection, as well as 77.2 million other citizens. The overall target is to vaccinate 181.5 million Indonesians.
Cooperation
Budi said the vaccination program required the cooperation of many sectors, including the private sector. Distributing the vaccines to all regions required vast logistical support, including vaccine cold storages that met certain standards, such as a cold chain that maintained average temperatures of 2-8 degrees Celsius.
"The logistical needs for the vaccines have tripled with the Covid-19 vaccination program. About 200 million vaccine doses are needed for the vaccination program for children. We now need a logistical capacity [to accommodate] 626 million vaccine doses. The private sector is involved to provide the required cold storage facilities,” he said.
In addition, the private sector would be involved to administer the vaccines. While the number of puskesmas and hospitals is sufficient to support the vaccination program, they were not evenly distributed across all regions. Therefore, private hospitals and clinics were expected to assist in administering the vaccines.
"For those areas with inadequate health facilities, the vaccination [program] can be administered in stadiums, schools and conference halls," said Budi.
National Development Planning Minister/National Development Planning (Bappenas) head Suharso Monoarfa said the Covid-19 health emergency could be an opportunity to improve Indonesia’s health system. Under the social reform program, the government’s priority program for 2021, several aspects of the national health system needed reform, including improving health service access and quality, especially for Covid-19 patients, and strengthening the national health system.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the government had allocated Rp 61.84 trillion to finance its 2021 Covid-19 mitigation efforts. The vaccination program, combined with increased discipline in adhering to the health protocols, was expected to accelerate the resumption of normalcy in public activities.
PT Bank Central Asia (BCA) president director Jahja Setiaatmadja said that if the private sector were allowed to participate through an independent vaccination drive, this would bring a positive impact for the public as well as to the efforts to accelerate economic recovery.
Sintesa Group CEO Shinta Kamdani, who is also the deputy chairman of the Indonesian Chamber and Commerce and Industry (Kadin), revealed that several members of Kadin were ready to run an independent vaccination drive for employees.
PT GarudaFood president director Hardianto Atmadja said the food production giant was ready to take part in the independent vaccination drive to help accelerate the national Covid-19 vaccination program. (TAN/AGE/DIM/NTA)
This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.