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Businesses, government at odds over priority recipients for coronavirus vaccines
The government has secured 426.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, mostly from Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech and American vaccine manufacturer Novavax, in an effort to end the pandemic and get the economy moving.
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A medical worker removes a box of Sinovac's vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from a refrigerator at a community health centre in Qingdao, Shandong province, China, on Jan. 5. (REUTERS/China Daily )
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usinesspeople have continued to urge the government to prioritize workers with higher purchasing power in its COVID-19 vaccination program to speed up economic recovery from the pandemic-induced slump, raising concerns from experts.
Publicly listed Bank Central Asia (BCA) president director Jahja Setiaatmadja said on Tuesday that inoculating employees offered better certainty as they were expected to have higher spending power compared to people with uncertain income. Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) chairman Rosan Roeslani previously floated a similar idea.
“If the first recipients are those with spending power, especially if they have that power already leading up to Idul Fitri, the impact will be very good to get the economy moving,” Jahja said in a virtual discussion held by Kompas daily on Tuesday.
The government has secured 426.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, mostly from Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech and American vaccine manufacturer Novavax, in an effort to end the pandemic and get the economy moving.
Read also: Private vaccination talks could spell 'bad news' for those most at risk
Indonesia will need to vaccinate around 181.5 million people to achieve herd immunity. The country’s mass inoculation program, which involves 8,796 registered medical facilities, started earlier this month with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo being the first recipient.
Between January and April, the government aims to inoculate 1.3 million medical workers and 17.4 million public servants. Some 1.2 million doses have been distributed to all provinces as of Jan. 15.
