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Medical workers, police, military to get COVID-19 vaccines first: Erick Thohir

SOEs Minister Erick Thohir has said medical workers, police and military personnel and people living in high-risk areas would be prioritized in the COVID-19 vaccination program.

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, August 29, 2020

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Medical workers, police, military to get COVID-19 vaccines first: Erick Thohir State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir during an inspection of phase three clinical trials of Sinovac's COVID-19 candidate vaccine at PT Bio Farma in Bandung, West Java, on Aug. 4. (Courtesy/National Economic and COVID-19 Recovery Committee)

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he government will prioritize medical workers as well as police and military personnel in the provision of a COVID-19 vaccine once it is widely available as part of the government’s vaccination strategy, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir has said.

“We will prioritize those working on the front line [during the COVID-19 pandemic]. It maybe too early to say this as we don’t have a vaccine yet. However, we need to have a strategy,” he said on Friday, as quoted by kompas.com.

Erick, who also helms the national COVID-19 mitigation and national economic recovery committee, said people who lived in high-risk areas would also be prioritized.

Read also: Nine reasons you can be optimistic that a vaccine for COVID-19 will be widely available in 2021

The minister said the government had prepared two schemes for the mass COVID-19 vaccination program.

The first is to provide free vaccinations for National Health Insurance (BPJS Kesehatan) beneficiaries. Erick said 221 million people were registered under the program.

“However, we need to look at the list to prioritize those who can’t pay,” said Erick.

The second scheme is a paid vaccination program for people who can pay. According to the government’s estimation, each person would need to pay US$30 for two vaccinations.

The government previously announced that Indonesia had secured at least 300 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine, following ministerial visits to China and the United Arab Emirates.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said the country had secured a commitment to be sent 20-30 million doses by the end of this year, while the remaining would be sent gradually until the end of next year. (vny)

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