The government’s move to make the forthcoming COVID-19 vaccine available for free has given hope that the vaccine can bring an end to the pandemic. However, the efficacy and safety of the vaccine must be ensured.
By
KOMPAS TEAM
·5 minutes read
TANGKAPAN LAYAR AKUN SEKRETARIAT PRESIDEN DI KANAL YOUTUBE
President Joko Widodo ensured that the Covid-19 vaccine was free for the Indonesian people. The statement was conveyed from the Merdeka Palace online, Wednesday (16/12/2020).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has announced that COVID-19 vaccines will be made available without cost. The President also said he would be the first Indonesian to get a vaccine to show people the vaccine was safe.
“In order to build trust among people, I will be the first person injected with the vaccine,” the President said in a press statement delivered virtually from Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday (16/12/2020).
The President’s recent statement came to amend the country’s previous COVID-19 vaccination plan, in which the government would provide the vaccine through public and private schemes. The public scheme will initially be carried out by the Health Ministry, whereas the private scheme will be rolled out by the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry. The government has imported a total of 1.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines produced by China\'s Sinovac Biotech on Dec. 6.
The President stated that the decision to make the COVID-19 vaccine free of charge came after receiving much input from the public and recalculating the financial state of the country.
The President has instructed all ministries and institutions as well as regional administrations to prioritize the vaccination program in their respective 2021 budgets. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani is also expected to prioritize and reallocate state funds for vaccine procurement and rollout so that there would not be any reason for people not to get inoculated, Jokowi said.
People, however, are urged to remain disciplined in implementing the 3M health protocols of mask-wearing, handwashing and physical distancing, which is deemed the most effective in preventing the COVID-19 transmission.
AFP PHOTO /INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
This handout photo taken on December 6, 2020 and released by the Indonesian Presidential Palace shows 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.
Appreciation
Responding to the President’s recent statement, Maria Nanik Rahayu, 30, a resident of Pekanbaru, Riau has expressed her joy. The vaccination will allow her to run her business outside her home. “Alhamdulillah [Praise be to God], I hope this policy will improve the COVID-19 response,” said the tumpeng (a cone-shaped serving of yellow rice accompanied by assorted side dishes) trader, whose business was affected by the pandemic.
Dila Anindita, 32, a resident of Bandung in West Java, also encourages the provision of free COVID-19 vaccines as she did not want to see people treated differently in regard to their chances of having access to the vaccine. “Now the vaccine is free, Alhamdulillah. But which vaccine will be used?” said the graduate of Padang’s Andalas University School of Medicine.
Griffith University epidemiologist Dicky Budiman has also expressed his appreciation for the government’s decision in making the COVID-19 vaccine available without charge, as was done by other countries such as Singapore, Australia and India. Dicky, however, has also reminded that the provided vaccine must be safe and effective.
The country is still waiting for its Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) to issue emergency use authorization for the recently arrived Sinovac vaccine, which has to wait for the vaccine’s third phase clinical trial report.
The Sinovac vaccine, unlike some other candidate vaccines, has not disclosed its interim efficacy results. Besides that, the Sinovac vaccine can only be given to people aged between 18 and 59 years, according to the ongoing third phase clinical trials.
So far, there are three COVID-19 vaccine candidates that have reported high efficacy, namely the US-based Moderna vaccine, the US-German Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine and the United Kingdom-based AstraZeneca vaccine. “The logistics for the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech [vaccines] are a bit difficult. We can try the Oxford-AstraZeneca one. We have to find vaccines that are suitable for Indonesian citizens,” he said.
Kompas
Diana Carolina, a medic at Memorial Healthcare System, receives a Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine from Monica Puga at Memorial Healthcare System, in Miramar, Florida on December 14, 2020. - The United States kicked off a mass vaccination drive Monday hoping to turn the tide on the world\'s biggest coronavirus outbreak, as the country\'s death toll neared a staggering 300,000.
Molecular biologist Ahmad Rusdan Handoyo Utomo said a person could not be injected with different vaccines. “If you are first injected with the Sinovac vaccine, for example, the next shot must be from the same vaccine,” he said.
Moreover, there is currently no COVID-19 vaccine that has been tested on children and pregnant women. “Pfizer-BioNTech has just announced that it will start clinical trials for children aged between 12 and 17. We have to wait for the result,” he said.
Ahmad added that the current global demand for the COVID-19 vaccine was greater than the vaccine’s production capacity. Most of the high quality vaccines have been ordered by developed countries or countries involved in the third phase of clinical trials of the vaccine.
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher Syarif Hidayat said that the President’s recent statement was to convince the public about the state’s presence in handling the pandemic. The statement is also deemed necessary for national economic recovery as it will provide certainty for stakeholders that the pandemic will soon end.
Vaccines in other countries
A number of countries have affirmed their commitment to rolling out free vaccination programs once the vaccines are available. India and Australia announced long ago that they will make the vaccine available without cost for all of their citizens.
Similar commitments were recently expressed by Japan, New Zealand, Belgium and Singapore. India’s states of Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, for example are pioneering the provision of free vaccines for its residents. Indian Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Pratap Chandra Sarangi, as reported by the Times of India (24/10) said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would provide free vaccination for all Indian citizens.
A similar commitment was also conveyed by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. “If the Oxford vaccine is proven effective, we will produce, supply and give them for free for 25 million Australians,” he said.
Japan Times also reported that Japan will provide free vaccine for its citizens. NewsHub news platform on 4 December 2020 reported that that New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that that her country had spent hundreds of millions of US dollars for the procurement of the vaccine. "It is coming at a cost. But not nearly the same cost as the loss of life or the cost of a hit to our economy,"Ardern said. (AP/AFP/REUTERS/CAL/INA/AIK/FAI)
