By: Zainudin Zidan ) *
The vaccination program in Indonesia is planned to be implemented in the near future. This plan is a new hope for the Government and society during the Covid-19 pandemic .
The Indonesian government through the Ministry of Health will carry out the first injection of the Covid-19 vaccine at the end of this year. Health workers have priority to get the first injection of the Covid-19 vaccine.
According to the Director General of Disease Prevention and Control at the Ministry of Health, Achmad Yurianto, vaccines for 9.1 million people will be available until the end of 2020. The vaccines ordered by the Indonesian government from China are the production of sinovac, sinopharm and cansino.
Now, the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM), the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and the Ministry of Religion are still working to ensure the safety and halalness of the Covid-19 vaccine. They went to China to carry out inspections of vaccine manufacturers.
In addition, the government also ordered a vaccine produced by AstreZeneca from the UK. However, the vaccine is planned to arrive in March 2021 with 100 million doses of vaccine.
If Emergency Us e Authorization (EUA) from BPOM and halal certification from MUI and Ministry of Religion have been issued, it means that the vaccine is safe to use and does not cause bad impacts on health. Furthermore, vaccines can be given to the public.
Yuri said that even though there were no side effects from the vaccine, his party still asked for data sharing on the vaccine. He said that the government had formed a team to carry out an evaluation of post-vaccination, which has become a global SOP.
In his opinion , the government has determined prioritized people to receive the Covid-19 vaccine in the first stage. Apart from health workers, public service officers who provide disciplinary enforcement of health protocols such as Satpol PP, TNI and Polri are also a priority. Public service officers also include employees who provide services to users of airport, station and port services.
He said, the first group to receive the Covid-19 vaccine had been fully covered by the state budget. The government is also working on an independently funded vaccination scheme.
Meanwhile, according to Wiku Adisamito, spokesman for the Covid-19 Task Force (Task Force), revealed the reason why the government can only provide subsections to priority groups because this group consists of people most at risk of contracting Covid-19 such as medical personnel.
This is because they have a strategic role in the community and will be vaccinated early to cope with public health emergencies.
In the midst of a pandemic that has not ended, vaccination is certainly a hope for the people of Indonesia, where the incidence of Covid-19 has not shown a significant decrease. This is certainly a positive signal in the struggle to fight the virus that first emerged in China.
Until now, there is actually no country in the world that has succeeded in mass-producing vaccines.
It should also be noted that a vaccine candidate must go through a series of stages before being mass-produced and given to the public. This is to ensure that the vaccine to be produced is proven safe and effective.
Considering the important role and impact given by the Covid-19 vaccine as an effort to protect the community, the government assesses that the development and vaccination processes need to be carried out carefully, but still the ladder of dynamic changes during the pandemic.
Wiku also explained that the government continues to coordinate with vaccine developers to ensure that the vaccines being developed can pass all stages of clinical trials, before obtaining approval from BPOM for mass production.
In order to reach the vaccination stage, Indonesia has gone through a series of challenges in handling Covid-19. Until now, the struggle for Indonesia and all countries in the world is still long in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Indonesia, there were 37 7,541 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 12,959 of them died.
Previously, Spokesperson for the Covid-19 Handling Task Force Reisa Brotoasmoro said vaccines were an effort to build immunity to fight disease. This is a precaution so that the community does not need to be exposed to disease first to grow immunity.
WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 184 countries have now joined the COVAX facility. Ecuador and Uruguay are the last countries to join.
Coming back from the pandemic is a fixed price. The corona virus pandemic has made everything invisible affected. An optimistic attitude in order to be free from a pandemic must be maintained.
) * The author is a socio-political observer, active in the Cikini Press Circle and Students