Sanctions for People Who Refuse Vaccination

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

A health worker prepares to inject the Covid-19 vaccine into a recipient at the courtyard of Gunung Jati Regional Hospital, Cirebon city, West Java, Friday (29/1/2021). In the initial stage, 2,300 health workers in Cirebon city will undergo vaccinations in the next two weeks.

The emergence of new, more virulent variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the country must be anticipated. The government is imposing sanctions on citizens who refuse to be vaccinated.

The government has introduced a set of sanctions, both administrative and criminal, for citizens who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Meanwhile, it has guaranteed compensation for those who have been vaccinated and develop side effects.

The government has also established an additional strategy to procure Covid-19 vaccines by assigning state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and directly appointing national or foreign business entities that meet the requirements as set by the Health Minister. The Health Minister is also to determine the type and amount of Covid-19 vaccine to be procured through direct appointment. Moreover, vaccines are also to be procured through cooperation with international institutions.

The measure will be maintained to ensure that vaccine production and distribution meet the standards of drug manufacturing and distribution.

The government has taken legal responsibility for providing Covid-19 vaccines, including ensuring the vaccines’ safety, quality, effectiveness and immunogenicity, until it lifts the public health emergency in the country. The measure will be maintained to ensure that vaccine production and distribution meet the standards of drug manufacturing and distribution.

Also read: Sniffing out People with Covid-19

The decision is stipulated in Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 14/2021, which is an amendment to Presidential Decree No. 99/2020 on Vaccines Procurement and Implementation to Overcome the Covid-19 Pandemic, which President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo signed on 9 Feb. 2021. The Presidential Decree has been uploaded to the official websites of the Cabinet Secretariat and the State Secretariat.

Presidential spokesman Fadjroel Rachman confirmed that administrative and criminal sanctions would be applied to people who refused to be vaccinated.

“There are irrevocable human rights such as the right to live and the right to be free from torture. Some things can be excluded in an emergency situation, such as a public health emergency,” he said in Jakarta on Sunday afternoon (14/2/2021).

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

The community health center (Puskesmas) in Cilincing subdistrict, North Jakarta conducts a COVID-19 vaccination simulation on Tuesday (12/1/2021). The simulation includes registration, screening or health examinations, vaccination and post-vaccination observation. The observation lasts 30 minutes to see if there are any side effects after a person receives the vaccine. The government plans to begin the Covid-19 vaccination program on 13 Jan, 2021. President Joko Widodo will be the first person to be injected with the Covid-19 vaccine.

The amended regulation covers sanctions for anti-vaxxers and compensation for vaccine recipients who experience severe side effects, as well as collaborative research and development of Covid-19 vaccines. Covid-19 vaccination is mandatory for all targeted recipients.

The Health Ministry will collect data and determine the targeted recipients of the Covid-19 vaccination program. Although vaccination is mandatory, people who do not meet the recipient criteria are exempted from the program.

Administrative sanctions include the postponement or termination of social security or social assistance, suspension or termination of public services, and/or fines.

Also read: Vaccination and Threat of Virus Mutation

The sanctions are to be imposed by the relevant ministries or state agencies, regional governments or institutions in accordance with their jurisdictional authorities.

The law stipulates that individuals who obstruct the implementation of epidemic control and management may be subject to a maximum one year in prison and/or a maximum fine of Rp 1 million.

Criminal sanctions can also be imposed in accordance with Law No. 4/1984 on Outbreaks of Contagious Disease. The law stipulates that individuals who obstruct the implementation of epidemic control and management may be subject to a maximum one year in prison and/or a maximum fine of Rp 1 million.

According to Fadjroel, all people have the right to live free of infection by Covid-19. Therefore, everyone should try to avoid catching and transmitting the disease. “The administrative sanctions are the middle ground, because if 181.5 million people are not vaccinated, herd immunity will not be achieved,” he said.

Kompas

This handout photo taken on December 6, 2020 and released by the Indonesian Presidential Palace shows one of the containers with the 1.2 million dosage of Covid-19 vaccine made by Sinovac, on arrival from Beijing at the Jakarta International Airport in Tangerang.

House of Representative Commission IX member Saleh Partaonan Daulay has asked the government to review its decision. The government must carry out far-reaching public familiarization, because many people did not understand the side effects, efficacy and benefits of ed.

Law lecturer Herlambang Perdana of Airlangga University explained that vaccination was normally a part of health services, the provision of which was a state obligation. Introducing sanctions, therefore, indicated increased public distrust of the government since the onset of the pandemic. “The government must encourage literacy in public health services,” he said.

Also read: COVID-19 Testing Equipment Must Meet Standards

Health Ministry data show that some 1,068,747 citizens have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, or an increased vaccination rate of 8,421 recipients per day. In addition, 425,578 citizens have received their second dose or an increase of 10,092 recipients per day.

Hospital occupancy rate

Meanwhile, the hospital bed occupancy rate has decreased to 60 percent in Bandung, West Java. At the end of January, the occupancy rate of Covid-19 referral hospitals in Bandung was 75 percent, and had even reached above 90 percent at the end of 2020. The decrease in the hospital bed occupancy rate corresponds with the decrease in the number of active cases.

Bandung Deputy Mayor Yana Mulyana, however, asked people to remain vigilant to the risks of Covid-19 transmission.

The global figure for active Covid-19 cases and deaths has also declined. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Covid-19 had infected 108,006,680 people and claimed 2,378,115 lives as of Sunday (14/2). Meanwhile, it recorded 168,426 new cases and an additional 4,717 Covid-19 deaths.

Also read: The Second Wave of the Pandemic

The data indicates that global Covid-19 infections and deaths have declined for four consecutive weeks. Compared to the previous week, it recorded a 14.9 percent decline in the number of cases worldwide and an 8.7 percent decline in Covid-19 deaths.

LaporCovid-19 collaborator and epidemiologist Iqbal Elyazar attributed the global decline in Covid-19 cases and deaths mainly to declining figures in the United States.

Kompas

Muslim women ride a motorbike past a coronavirus-themed mural in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020. Writings on the mural read "Let\'s fight coronavirus together". As companies race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and countries scramble to secure doses, questions about the use of pork products — banned by some religious groups — has raised concerns about the possibility of disrupted immunization campaigns.

Indonesia’s Covid-19 Handling Task Force recorded 6,765 new cases, bringing the nationwide total to 1,217,468 infections. Furthermore, an additional 247 people had died of the disease to bring Wednesday\'s death toll to 33,183.

Also read:The Impact of COVID-19 Virus Mutations

Iqbal said that the decline in Indonesia’s daily tally was hardly indicative of a decrease of transmission across the country, as only 24,250 individuals were tested per day.

(This article was translated by Camilia Adianti)