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Vaccination in Indonesia: Greed amid the pandemic?
We should not be surprised if, in the future, law enforcement unveils corruption and the misappropriation of state funds allocated for vaccine procurement.
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Fishermen arrive in their boats to receive doses of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine aboard a Navy ship off the southern coast of Riau on Aug. 21. (AFP/TNI AL)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has ordered Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin to lower the unit price of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to between Rp 450,000 (US$31.3) and Rp 550,000. For almost a year, the ceiling price of the test stood at Rp 900,000. Therefore, the government policy constitutes bad news for those who expected big margins from the PCR testing business.
Was the price cut an Independence Day gift from President Jokowi? Certainly it is difficult to believe that the government had deliberately prepared the price reduction. The PCR test price fell more because of public pressure, which had mounted after widespread reports that India had slashed the price of PCR tests.
India Today quoted Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's tweet on Aug. 4 reporting that New Delhi had cut the price of PCR tests from 800 rupees ($10.86) to 500 rupees.
Unsurprisingly, many in Indonesia have given the cold shoulder to the government’s decision to halve the PCR test price. Some of them say the new price remains too high when compared with the price in India. They are also curious how much PCR test providers will profit, because even after the price was halved the service has continued to sell.
Obviously, halving the PCR test did not stem from the intention to help people suffering from the pandemic in the first place but was simply a response to public criticism. If the Indonesian government were committed to easing the burden on the public, it would have followed in the footsteps of the Indian government, which has lowered the PCR test price in several stages from 4,500 rupees in March 2020 to 500 rupees today.
Information technology has enabled the public to compare the pricing of PCR tests worldwide. The same applies to vaccines.
Despite the global norm of transparency during the pandemic, the Health Ministry has so far failed to disclose the cost of goods sold (COGS) for the Sinovac vaccine, which Indonesia has ordered in abundance to help the country reach herd immunity against COVID-19.
