Indonesia’s COVID-19 Mitigation Task Force (Satgas Covid) reported 8,232 new daily cases on Feb. 26, down from 8,493 a day earlier. With 7,261 reported cured and 268 dead, the tally of active cases is 158,408. The number of suspect cases nationwide is now 75,822, down from 77,293 reported on Thursday.
According to the Ministry of Health, as of Feb. 26, 2021, 1,583,581 people had received the first shot of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine, and 865.870 had received the second shot. Indonesia began its vaccination program on Jan. 13. After vaccinating healthcare workers, Indonesia began vaccinating 16.9 million public officials on Feb. 17. Registered media workers have also been enrolled and vaccinated.
The Ministry of Health has published the Minister of Health Regulation (Permenkes) No. 10 Year 2021 on COVID-19 Vaccination. The new Permenkes amends the Permenkes No. 84 Year 2020 and adds the terms and conditions for private sector vaccination. Companies can now pay for vaccinating their employees. The Minister of Health will determine the ceiling price for the said vaccine at a later date.
The Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan (also known as Mr. Do-It-All) recently told the press that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had asked him to find the vaccines for the private sector’s Vaksin Gotong Royong program. Luhut said that the Sinopharm vaccine might be the go-to vaccine for the said program.
Companies registered in the Vaksin Gotong Royong may not purchase any of the vaccines enrolled in the Government’s on-going national vaccination program. Assuming that Sinopharm is the designated vaccine for Vaksin Gotong Royong, companies would have to procure the said vaccine through healthcare services providers. The designated distributor for the vaccine is PT Bio Farma.
It’s not yet clear how and which companies can begin accessing the Vaksin Gotong Royong vaccines, but we expect clarity soon. The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (KADIN) had said that over six thousand companies, mostly in the labor-intensive sector, had applied to participate in the Vaksin Gotong Royong program. At least 20 million workers might be vaccinated through the said scheme. It would certainly help the Government accelerate its vaccination target and save money.
