PRESS RELEASE

Vaccination Program Vulnerable to Deviations, Government Needs to Improve Distribution Mechanisms and Increase Transparency

Civil Society Coalition for Access to Health Justice

04 January 2021 – Practice of buying and selling vaccines boosters for the general public it continues to happen again. This adds to the long list of cases of irregularities during the Covid-19 vaccination program. The forms of irregularities are quite diverse, ranging from illegal levies to the widespread circulation of fake/illegal vaccine certificates which are detrimental to society as a whole. The proliferation of this kind of practice is due to weak supervision, ignoring citizen reports and a lack of transparency in the vaccine distribution process so that it falls on certain groups and uses them to make a profit.

CNN Indonesia's investigative research at the end of 2021 showed directly the practice of buying and selling Covid-19 vaccines in Surabaya.1 This kind of practice is not carried out just because there is an opportunity, but has been planned in such a way, by including a registration link as proof of ordering.

Meanwhile, the practice of deviating from the vaccination program has not only happened once or twice. Throughout 2021, LaporCovid-19 received at least 71 reports from residents reporting incidents of irregularities or abuse in the Covid-19 vaccination program. Most of the reports (27 reports) allegedly involved officers and regional officials or heads who had direct access to vaccine distribution. One of the other findings from the BPKP audit also indicated that there was misuse of vaccine supplies, including giving booster vaccines to non-health workers. Instead of stopping deviant practices, CNN's findings are proof that deviant practices are commonplace.

Deviations or misuse of the vaccination program have the potential to prevent the public from obtaining the right to health, including vaccination services, and further widen inequality in obtaining equal health services.

The government is responsible for regulating and protecting the right to optimal public health. This includes, among other things, the provision of adequate health facilities and facilities that are easily accessible to the public. This clause is also stated in the constitution, the Health Law, the Health Quarantine Law, and a number of other regulations.

So far, the mechanism for distributing vaccines to regions has been under the authority of the central government, in this case the Indonesian Ministry of Health, which also determines the need for vaccines according to the type, quantity that will be needed, and the unit price of the vaccine. Meanwhile, local governments are tasked with forwarding vaccines to health facilities so they can carry out the Covid-19 vaccination program.

However, until now the public still has difficulty accessing information regarding the quantity, validity period, and types of vaccines used, starting from the procurement process, distribution from the central government to regional governments, to recording vaccinations for recipient groups. The availability of this information is necessary so that the public can monitor the types of vaccines distributed in proportion to regional needs, to ensure that there are no irregularities or abuses in vaccine distribution.

The lack of information and transparency in vaccine distribution makes it difficult for the public to obtain information real time regarding the number of vaccines that have arrived in the region.

Another implication is that many vaccines have expired. Based on Coalition records, there are around 6,100 AstraZeneca vaccines that have expired. Of course, this has the potential to cause state losses. The failure to collect solid data on vaccine recipients can be attributed to the state's failure to distribute the Covid-10 vaccine according to the number of recipients.

As a result, the availability of this information is also needed so that the public can monitor the types of vaccines distributed in proportion to regional needs, to ensure that no more people have difficulty accessing vaccines or have expired vaccines.

Therefore, we, the Civil Society Coalition for Access to Health Justice, encourage the government to:

1. Conduct investigations and take firm action against officers, officials and other groups who are proven to have committed irregularities and misuse of the Covid-19 vaccination program.
2. Opening up information regarding vaccine distribution carried out in each region, both vaccines distributed by the Ministry of Health, TNI and POLRI as well as other community organizations.
3. The Ministry of Health is obliged to disclose detailed information on vaccines that have been distributed to regions, starting from the type of vaccine to the expiration date of the vaccine.
4. The Ministry of Health is obliged to disclose the results of the Covid-19 vaccination inspection audit which was carried out with the BPKP.

Civil Society Coalition for Access to Health Justice

Contact Person:

Firdaus Ferdiansyah, ReportCovid-19 (087838822426)

Agus Sarwono, Transparency International Indonesia (08126992667)

This press release can be downloaded via the following link