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COVID-19 vaccination no longer free for most patients, ministry says
Starting Jan. 1, the free vaccination is only eligible for elderly people, adults with comorbidities, health workers, pregnant women and people with immuno-compromised conditions.
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A health worker administers a COVID-19 vaccine to a patient at Arcamanik community health center (Puskesmas) in Bandung, West Java, on Jan. 4, 2024. The Health Ministry has announced that COVID-19 vaccinations will no longer be free for most people starting January 2024. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)
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tarting this year, COVID-19 vaccinations will only be free for members of vulnerable groups, while the rest of the general public will need to pay to get the jab, the Health Ministry has announced.
The policy, effective starting Jan. 1 as mandated in a Health Ministry regulation, stipulates that free vaccination against the coronavirus disease is only eligible for elderly people, adults with comorbidities, health workers, pregnant women and people with immune-compromised conditions.
For everyone outside these groups, the COVID-19 vaccination will become an optional immunization, “just like the flu shot,” said Health Ministry spokesperson Siti Nadia Tarmizi.
Individual medical facilities will set their own prices for the vaccination rather than the government.
“The government will only set the amount of non-tax state revenue [PNBP] or the rate of the [health-based] public service body [BLU] in our e-catalogue,” Siti said recently, as quoted by kompas.com.
Until late last year, the COVID-19 vaccination was funded using a portion of the state budget earmarked for the mitigation of the pandemic.
But President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo lifted the national COVID-19 public health emergency status in June last year due to the low number of cases and deaths caused by the coronavirus disease.
