Paid Mutual Cooperation Vaccines: Making Profits in the Midst of a Pandemic
July 11 2021, 18.00 WIB. In the midst of a pandemic crisis, the government is mandated by the constitution to fulfill the right to health of every citizen. This includes getting the Covid-19 vaccine for free. In fact, when cases increase sharply like now, the government actually launches a paid mutual cooperation vaccine program for individuals.
PRESS RELEASE
Paid Mutual Cooperation Vaccine:
Taking Profits in the Midst of a Pandemic
July 11 2021, 18.00 WIB. In the midst of a pandemic crisis, the government is mandated by the constitution to fulfill the right to health of every citizen. This includes getting the Covid-19 vaccine for free. In fact, when cases increase sharply like now, the government actually launches a paid mutual cooperation vaccine program for individuals.
The government, through the Minister of Health, secretly issued Minister of Health Regulation (PMK) no. 19 of 20211 as a legal basis for the unethical implementation of Covid-19 vaccination, namely paid vaccination for individuals. Practices like this are a clear violation of the public's right to health protected by the Constitution. This is also clearly a form of lie and real inconsistency in President Joko Widodo's promise which stated in December 2020 that the Covid-19 vaccine would be provided free of charge to all people.
This paid mutual cooperation vaccination has three main problems. First, it violates the spirit and mandate of the constitution, Health Law no. 36 of 2009, Health Quarantine Law no. 6 of 2018, as well as other related laws and regulations that guarantee the right to health of every citizen. The 1945 Republic of Indonesia Constitution Article 28H paragraph (1) specifically states: Every person has the right to health and the right to obtain health services; and Article 34 paragraph (3): The state is responsible
on the provision of adequate health service facilities and public service facilities.
Second, manipulate terminology herd immunity to take advantage. Once again, the government uses one of the arguments for carrying out a vaccination program to accelerate the achievement of group immunity or herd immunity. This has to be straightened out. Herd immunity can be achieved more quickly if vaccination is carried out according to vulnerability priorities, through easy administration, strong vaccine efficacy and safety, as well as adequate vaccination education to reduce vaccine hesitancy in society.
In the field, although efforts to accelerate vaccination have been carried out in a number of areas, such as DKI Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Semarang, DI Yogyakarta, and others, many areas outside of this still have low coverage. Apart from that, technical obstacles to implementing mass vaccination, such as stacking/queuing, should not be used as an excuse to carry out paid vaccinations. The government must improve this management, not make paid vaccination an alibi for the solution.
Instead of implementing efforts to accelerate and improve vaccination administration, the government has returned to using the excuse of speeding up herd immunity to extract profits from its citizens. This means that this paid mutual cooperation vaccination completes a reflection of the government's failure to control the pandemic through the pandemic program.
Third, the government is returning to the practice of playing regulatory games, so that regulations continue to change and become inconsistent. This can be seen from changes after changes to the regulations regarding the Implementation of Covid-19 Vaccination. Minister of Health Regulation No. 84 of 2020 concerning the Implementation of Vaccinations in the Context of Combating the Covid-19 Pandemic previously guaranteed that recipients of the Covid-19 vaccine were free of charge. Then, the regulation was changed to Minister of Health Regulation no. 10 of 2021 where legal entities/business entities can carry out Mutual Cooperation Vaccination for individuals/individuals. Later, this regulation was changed to Minister of Health Regulation no. 19 of 2021 where article 5 paragraph 5, implementation of vaccination. COVID-19 to individuals/individuals whose funding is borne by the person concerned.
So far, the procurement of Covid-19 vaccinations has used a purchasing scheme by the Government and/or received donations from other countries (CEPI/COVAX). This means that the money used by the Government to buy vaccines from producers is people's money. In the midst of slow implementation and limited availability of vaccines, the government should maximize access and ease in implementing the vaccination program.
This paid Mutual Cooperation vaccination is not only a reflection of the government's failure to carry out its mandate to carry out Covid-19 vaccinations, but also confirms that the government is unethical because it makes business of the Covid-19 vaccine, which is public good to protect the health of its citizens.
Hence, we The Citizens' Coalition for Fair Health Access urges the government to revoke the paid mutual cooperation vaccination program.
Best regards,
Citizens Coalition for Fair Health Access
LaporCovid19, YLBHI, ICW, Lokataru, PSHK, TII, Center for Human Rights Law Studies (HRLS) FH UNAIR, KontraS, Lokataru, Indonesia Global Justice (IGJ), Jala PRT, RUJAK, Covid Survivor Indonesia (CSI), WALHI, Indonesian Human Protection Foundation, KawalCOVID-19, Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), LBH Masyarakat, and LP3ES.
Contact Person:
Firdaus Ferdiansyah (+62-878-3882-2426)
Amanda Tan (+62-858-6604-4058)
#VaccineEquity #Vaccinesforall #CovVaccinesMustbeFree
