By: Rezky Aditya (Coordinator of the Tangerang Regency Regional Independent Social Media Activist Forum)
The vaccination program that the government has started to bring hope to the community, business world, and MSMEs. Accelerating the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic through mass vaccination will soon reach its end and in the end the pandemic can be brought under control.
The control of the Covid-19 pandemic will certainly create a sense of security for businesses and consumers in making transactions. This momentum should be a strong impetus for restoring people’s lives. Thus, vaccination will be an important key to getting people back to their normal activities. Vaccination will also revive all sectors, including the economic sector which was one of the sectors that was badly affected by the pandemic.
First, vaccination has a big effect on micro entrepreneurs, because their number is very massive, which is around 98% of the MSME actors, which is 64.2 million micro entrepreneurs. If some of them are vaccinated, especially in the red and black zone classification areas, given the limited number of vaccines, the Covid-19 pandemic will be monitored and even reduce its spread.
Second, MSME entrepreneurs in traditional markets also need to get priority. The market still plays an important role in fulfilling daily needs as well as buying and selling goods and services. The market-to-population ratio in some cities and districts in Indonesia can serve 75,000 people per market, although there are also markets that serve less than this.
The market averages about 30,000 people each day. Meanwhile, the number of traditional markets in Indonesia is 14,182 units. This means that there are many people doing activities in traditional markets. Therefore, it cannot be denied that traditional markets have transformed into a cluster for the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
Based on the explanation above, UMKM entrepreneurs need to be supported and become a priority for vaccination, so that the rate of spread of the virus can be drastically reduced followed by economic recovery.
Giving priority to vaccination to micro entrepreneurs and MSMEs in traditional markets is also a form of empathy and support, so that they can survive and grow again, because during the crisis times in 1998, 2008 and 2013, they survived and have become a buffer for Indonesia’s economic growth.
If the national vaccination program is implemented according to priorities and is successful, a sense of security will be rebuilt in the community. In addition, it is also necessary to avoid hoaxes or disinformation related to national vaccinations which will only hinder the acceleration of handling Covid-19. The dissemination of positive content also needs to be done to support the policy of handling the Covid-19 pandemic so that MSMEs are helped and the economy will recover.
