PRESS RELEASE

Independent Vaccine for Equality and Social Justice: Reject or Postpone?

Jakarta, 21 February 2021 – Civil Society Coalition for Health and Social Justice refuse independent vaccination planscarried out by the private sector considers the following things:

1. mviolate the principles of social justice, equality and non-discrimination, opening up inequality of access and uneven distribution of vaccines, and potentially not on target. Mandiri Vaccines are given to entrepreneurs, their families and employees where they are not a priority group violates the principle of equality stated in the 1945 Constitution article 28H verse 2. Everyone has the right to receive convenience and special treatment to obtain the same opportunities and benefits in order to achieve equality and justice because of the risk of infection and even death for vulnerable groups who are not members of private companies due to unequal access to vaccines. The majority of people should get the vaccine in order of priority based on high risk of exposure such as health workers, or age or comorbidity factors, and those who live in areas with high transmission rates, not those who can pay (private sector).

2. Qdoes not guarantee the acceleration of achieving herd immunity. The reason for the independent vaccine is to speed things up herd immunity in society is not appropriate. It requires at least 70 percent of the total population or around 181.5 million people to receive vaccinations. To achieve herd immunity when the availability of the Covid Vaccine is still limited, a short-term vaccination program must be pursued to reduce morbidity and mortality rates by protect the groups most vulnerable to infection, starting from health workers, elderly groups, people who have comorbidities and those who live in areas with high transmission. So prioritize principles equity according to WHO recommendations. Independent Vaccination targets entrepreneurs, their families and employees, most of whom are not priority groups cause herd immunity which remains difficult to achieve and high cases of morbidity and death in society will continue to occur.

3. mopens up opportunities for corruption and other forms of abuse. One form of corruption risk that arises is a conflict of interest in the process of directly appointing a provider business entity. Information that is closed in the appointment mechanism will be at risk potential bribery. If observed, vaccination by the private sector is only proposed by countries that have a bad corruption index such as Pakistan (31), Indonesia (37)..

4. mopens up opportunities for the circulation of fake vaccines. By centralizing purchasing and distribution in the hands of the government, it is easier to detect the presence of fake vaccines because they are only importers one and the vaccine is available for free. The rise in cases of overclaiming for COVID-19 drugs and therapies that are simply accepted by the public could set a bad precedent for efforts to resolve the pandemic.
5. PState budget savings cannot be used as a justification for independent vaccination. To date, the government has allocated around IDR 70 trillion for vaccination implementation. If there is a budget shortfall, the government should be able to reallocate other expenditure budgets that are not yet urgent, for example from the infrastructure budget (Rp. 414 trillion), personnel expenditures amounting to Rp. 420.7 trillion, including further savings from ASN official travel which should not be needed in order to reduce the infection rate. Apart from that, the fiscal space for budget reallocation can also come from Ministry of Defense Expenditures and Police Expenditures, which in total reach IDR 137.3 trillion and IDR 112.1 trillion respectively in the 2021 APBN.

However, even though it has been criticized by various parties, on February 10 2021 the government still issued Presidential Regulation Number 14 of 2021 concerning Procurement of Vaccines and Implementation of Vaccinations in the Context of Overcoming the Covid-19 Pandemic which justifies the implementation of independent vaccination. Apart from that, the Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, has also said that a Minister of Health Regulation which regulates independent vaccination in more detail is being prepared.

In times of pandemic emergency like now, Covid-19 vaccination along withtesting, tracing,and other medical care is part of the Human Rights (HAM) guaranteed by the Constitution. However, unfortunately, the government has again failed to ensure increased epidemiological and public health surveillance, including 3T. The government is the guardian of the fulfillment of all rights to medical services, including administering vaccines. Additionally, the government should not spend energy on lobbying and bilateral cooperation for non-priority groups.

In principle, in an epidemic situation, all efforts to contain the epidemic, including the vaccination program, are the responsibility of the state. This is in accordance with what is regulated in Article 10 of the Infectious Disease Outbreak Law. Therefore, we recommend the following:

• The government needs to ensure that free vaccines run well, on target, on time, with a transparent and accountable process. In accordance with WHO recommendations, the Government is focusing
  efforts to fulfill procurement supplies for community groups who are vulnerable to infection. This will be more effective in immediately reducing the number of severe symptoms, hospital occupancy rates and deaths due to COVID-19.
• The government evaluates the progress of vaccination and then fixes gaps in regulations and systems to ensure the vaccination process runs optimally and reaches the most important groups
  need.
• The government is reallocating other expenditure budgets that are not yet urgent, for example from the infrastructure budget, personnel expenditure, further savings from ASN official travel, the Ministry of Defense expenditure budget, and police expenditure to speed up control.
  pandemic.
• The government needs to ensure that free vaccines run well, on target, on time, with a transparent and accountable process.
• The government is building a system for data collection, distribution, implementation and vaccination education for citizens. This system must be open and accessible to the public, so that people are well aware of vaccination developments.
• The government must ensure that there is no corruption and all forms of abuse of vaccine allocations for citizens.

Contact Person

ReportCovid19 : Amanda Tan (0858 6604 4058)
CISDI : Yeyen Yenuarizki (0811 1188 190)
ICW : Wana Alamsyah (0878 7861 1344)

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