International Organizations Appreciate RI in Handling Covid-19 and Vaccination Programs
By: Achmad Faisal
The government acted quickly in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and implementing a national vaccination program. The epidemic that has hit the country since March 2020 was immediately anticipated with the right and effective policies. This turned out to be appreciated by the international community.
A number of policies carried out by the government include Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB), Socialization of the Covid-19 Health Protocol, Massive Covid-19 Tracing and Test, a ban on going home for two periods of Lebaran (2020 and 2021), addition of Covod-19 referral hospitals. , increasing the number of health workers, enacting the limitation of community activities (PPKM) on a micro scale, and a national Covid-19 vaccination program.
Thanks to this policy, cases of Covid-19 transmission in Indonesia can be suppressed. The number of recovered patients is also increasing. Data from the official government website covid19.go.id as of May 24, 2021, there were 5,280 new cases in 24 hours. Meanwhile, the number of cures in Indonesia reached 1,633,045 with an additional 3,550 healings per May 24.
The World Health Organization (WHO) praises the steps taken by the Indonesian government. It is not surprising that on November 6, 2020, WHO invited Terawan Agus Putranto, who at that time served as Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia. At that time, Terawan joined the Minister of Health of Thailand, Uzbekistan and South Africa in a virtual press conference.
It is an honor for Indonesia because Terawan was appointed as one of the speakers at the press conference. WHO assesses that Indonesia has successfully handled Covid-19 in accordance with the guidelines set by the International Emergency Committee.
Also in the forum, the Minister of Health shared experiences as a representative of the Indonesian government. Terawan was asked to share his story because of his success in implementing the Covid-19 intra-Action Review (IAR) nationally.
IAR is planning Indonesia’s activities in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. The context for IAR here is that Indonesia made a plan which was later reviewed by WHO. When compared to the United States and India, Indonesia’s IAR was categorized as successful. Because there are more Covid-19 cases in the US and India.
In addition to appreciating the implementation of the Covid-19 intra-Action Review (IAE), WHO also praised the steps of the Indonesian government in the national corona virus (Covid-19) vaccination program. As a developing country, Indonesia is considered successful in showing decisive steps by accelerating and maximizing the national vaccination program.
Indeed, Indonesia has a goal of a national Covid-19 vaccination program. Vaccines are given as a state effort to protect the Indonesian people from the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic and to achieve community immunity or herd immunity.
President Joko Widodo himself targets the Covid-19 vaccination to be accelerated within 12 months. According to government calculations, herd immunity can be realized if 181.5 million Indonesians are vaccinated against Covid-19.
Currently, the vaccines given to the community include health workers, teachers, traders, the elderly (seniors), and journalists. The doses given to the public are the first dose of vaccine and the second dose of vaccine. In addition to the national Covid-19 vaccine program, now there is a mutual cooperation vaccine carried out by the government through the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN).
Returning to the appreciation given by WHO, of course this appreciation is an acknowledgment as well as an international appreciation for the Indonesian government. WHO appreciates the hard work done by the government in dealing with Covid-19.
This appreciation will also provide positive encouragement for the government and health workers who have handled Covid-19. Hopefully the Indonesian people can be more aware of the dangers of Covid-19 and play a role in breaking the chain of transmission of Covid-19. So that the Covid-19 pandemic will decline, become endemic, and Indonesia can live a normal life.
) * The author is a former journalist
