PRESS RELEASE

Community Coalition for Fair Health Access Revoke PMK 19/2021 Paid Vaccines

July 18, 2021– After receiving protests from various groups, including the Coalition for Fair Access to Health, on July 16 2021 through the State Cabinet Secretary, Pramono Anung, President Jokowi finally said that paid vaccines were cancelled.

We certainly appreciate the President's response. However, just canceling verbally is not enough. During the Minister of Health Regulation no. 19/2021 which is the basis for administering paid vaccinations has not been revoked, so this paid mutual cooperation vaccination program is still not cancelled. So the Coalition will continue to monitor and urge the Indonesian Minister of Health to immediately revoke PMK 19/2021 as proof of cancellation of paid vaccines.

At this press conference, Irma Hidayana, Co-leader of LaporCovid-19 said PMK 19/2021 must be revoked to guarantee that the Covid-19 vaccine is truly free for all citizens, and so that it is not misused in the future, be it next week or the following months.

Dodunias Christian from LBH Masyarakat emphasized that the Coalition will continue to oversee this repeal, and we hope that new regulations will be made that accommodate the community in terms of fair access to vaccines.

On the other hand, amidst limited vaccines, even though the government has secured a number of vaccine doses, there are still difficulties in accessing vaccines in the regions. Mass vaccination is more common in big cities, while the problems of running out of vaccination quotas, difficulty of registration, and differences in domicile are still felt by the majority of the population.

Private involvement is indeed needed to accelerate the achievement of vaccination targets (not herd-immunity), but private companies such as PT. Kimia Farma and others contributed to help implement the free vaccination program. Showing their spirit of "mutual cooperation in helping facilitate access to free Covid-19 vaccines for the people. Not by charging fees.

Agung Prakoso from Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ) explained that mutual cooperation vaccinations that have been secured by entrepreneurs need to be absorbed. The 15 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine used by the mutual cooperation vaccine program will continue to arrive. Entrepreneurs who have committed to securing this vaccine must not shirk responsibility, especially if it is handed over to a paid individual vaccine scheme. This vaccine must be absorbed quickly, especially in the midst of a crisis.

The General Chairperson of YLBHI, Asfinawati, also revealed the repressive actions of the authorities during PPKM (Implementation of restrictions on community activities) emergency. What is happening now is regional blocking, restrictions on the movement of residents within the Emergency PPKM framework In fact, it causes the lower classes of society to be unable to work freely. This should not happen, if the Government implements the Regional Quarantine Law which guarantees the fulfillment of people's basic rights and needs. The problem is, the current regional partitions and restrictions are part of the implementation of the Health Quarantine Law, but there is no guarantee of meeting daily needs as mandated by the Law.

If this Quarantine Law is implemented, then the government should fulfill the basic needs of affected residents, so that residents can stay calm at home without worrying about their daily needs. If the sanctions are used, why use the Health Quarantine Law no. 6/2018, but why don't you use the Health Quarantine Law 6/2018 regarding tightening mobility? Even though it is clearly written in the Health Quarantine Law 6/2018 that the state is obliged to provide basic needs during regional quarantine, explained Asfinawati, Director of YLBHI.

Apart from that, the Coalition really appreciates the steps taken by the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment as the coordinator of Emergency PPKM to apologize for the handling of Emergency PPKM which was not optimal. However, according to Mirza Fahmi from the Lokataru Foundation, the government should have apologized since March 2020, because in January-February they were joking from the start. What is happening now is an extension of the joking indications from the start. According to Mirza, the government needs to stop denial and making unrealistic claims, e.g herd immunity created in September even though in the regions, access to vaccines is already difficult. This is necessary so that friction does not occur in society.

Responding to the provision of a social safety network, Agus Sarwono from Transparency International Indonesia adding that social assistance has not been disbursed until now, data collection problems are still occurring, even though the Ministry of Social Affairs claims to be updating the Integrated Social Welfare Data (DTKS). The budget amount continues to be increased, but implementation has not been carried out at all.

Therefore, the Citizens Coalition for Fair Health Access provides recommendations:

1. Urge the President and Minister of Health to revoke and cancel PMK No. 19/2021 in the next five days.
2. Increasing regional restrictions by using the Health Quarantine Law, and providing guarantees for basic needs for people in need
3. Increase tracing And testing until the trend of the average positive number decreases significantly so that positive cases are detected and received treatment adequate.
4. Increase the implementation of massive vaccinations that are easily accessible and distributed to all communities in each region, both in Java, Bali, and also all affected islands and provinces as well as remote, outermost and deepest areas.

Best regards,
Citizens Coalition for Fair Health Access
LaporCovid19, YLBHI, Lokataru, TII (Transparency International Indonesia), LBH Masyarakat, Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ)*
*Coalition Members present at this Press Conference

Contact Person:

Windy – LaporCovid-19 Volunteer (+62 852-3341-9947)

This press release can be downloaded via the following link