The government is planning to reallocate some of this year’s remaining stimulus funds to pay for mass vaccination in 2021.

By Dec. 14, the government had spent 70 percent – or Rp 481.6 trillion (US$34.12 billion) – of the nation’s Rp 695.2 trillion stimulus package in an effort to strengthen the healthcare system and tend to the economy as it reeled from the coronavirus outbreak.

Read also: Indonesia to spend less than expected of COVID-19 budget by year-end

“We think that it may not be possible to spend 100 percent of the budget this year,” Budi Gunadi Sadikin, the head of the economic recovery task force, told reporters during a virtual press conference on Wednesday. “We have already had discussions that the remaining funds will be used for the national vaccination program.”

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced on Wednesday that the government would provide free vaccines to all Indonesians in 2021 and asked Cabinet members to prioritize the vaccination effort next year.

“I have instructed the finance minister to prioritize and reallocate the state budget to make [vaccines] available for free so that there will be no reason that people cannot get a vaccine,” the President said during a streamed briefing, noting that he had volunteered to be the first person to receive the shot to build confidence in the inoculation.

The government is hoping to secure 246.6 million vaccine doses. It has been in negotiations with Pfizer, AstraZeneca and global vaccine program COVAX, in addition to China’s Sinovac Biotech.

It has ordered about 143 million doses from Sinovac in various forms, from ready-to-administer doses to vaccine bulk, out of which individual doses of the vaccine are drawn. However, the Sinovac vaccine’s efficacy remains unknown, pending further results.

Read also: Jokowi announces ‘free’ COVID-19 vaccines for all

Budi said the government would shift its focus to spending stimulus funds on corporate financing at the end of the year, including by providing Rp 15 trillion to the country’s sovereign wealth fund and Rp 44 trillion to state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

“Corporate financing is our top priority as the stimulus for social protection programs and aid for micro, small and medium enterprises have nearly achieved their targets,” he said.

The government has spent 94.1 percent of its Rp 230.6 trillion budget for social aid programs. It has also spent 91.7 percent of the Rp 115.8 trillion budget to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and has spent 78.7 percent of the Rp 70.7 trillion designated for the support of regional administrations.

However, the government has spent only 39.5 percent of its Rp 120.6 trillion budget for tax incentives and 48.5 percent of its Rp 96.1 trillion budget for health care.

It has only spent Rp 8.15 trillion of the Rp 61.2 trillion earmarked for corporate financing, which includes state capital injections and loans to state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Read also: Distribute 2021 social aid ‘as soon as possible’, says Jokowi

The plan to redirect stimulus funds toward a free vaccination program was appropriate, said Bank Permata economist Josua Pardede, adding that the government had to build confidence in the vaccine by providing evidence regarding its efficacy.

“The effectiveness of the stimulus programs has been limited,” he said on Wednesday, noting that the outbreak had remained unchecked and predicting that the economy would contract by 1 to 2 percent in the fourth quarter.

“The main task now is how to boost people’s confidence in taking the vaccine,” he told The Jakarta Post. “If herd immunity can be reached through the vaccination program, then economic activity will recover more strongly and the government’s stimulus will be more effective.”

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