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Low-income patients will get COVID-19 vaccines for free, govt says
Research and Technology Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said that the government was currently calculating the total cost of the vaccine.
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A scientist gestures toward equipment on Aug. 12 in a research laboratory at PT Bio Farma in Bandung, West Java. The state-owned pharmaceutical holding company is working with Sinovac Biotech of China in the phase III clinical trial of the Sinovac candidate vaccine. (Antara/Dhemas Reviyanto)
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p to 98 million low-income patients whose healthcare premiums are fully funded by the state through the Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) will get the COVID-19 vaccine for free, Research and Technology Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro has said.
“Between 97 and 98 million PBI participants of the BPJS Kesehatan will get the vaccine for free. Of course, the government and the Health Ministry will see how it is for the non-PBI participants" he said in a hearing with House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing research and technology on Tuesday.
Bambang, who also heads the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and is the person-in-charge of the national team to accelerate the development of a possible COVID-19 vaccine, said that the government was currently calculating the total cost of the vaccine.
The government has allocated Rp 280 billion (US$ 18.8 million) in 2021 for the development of the locally produced Merah Putih (Red and White) vaccine.
Read also: Govt to set aside Rp 37 trillion for COVID-19 vaccine procurement
However, Presidential Decree No. 18/2020 on the national team for the acceleration of COVID-19 vaccine development opens the possibility of other sources of funding for the program beyond the state budget.
The potential vaccine is currently being developed by a national consortium under the Research and Technology Ministry, led by the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology.
Other institutions that are also conducting research and development are the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), the University of Indonesia (UI), the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and Airlangga University (Unair).
The vaccine is expected to cover at least 50 percent of Indonesia's vaccine needs.
