The latest revision to a presidential regulation on coronavirus vaccination regulates mandatory inoculation for people who are declared by the Health Ministry eligible for the vaccine, unless they fail to meet certain health criteria.

Those who reject vaccination may be subject to fines or administrative sanctions in the form of delays or termination of social aid and access to public services. However, given that only the poor and vulnerable are eligible for social aid the sanctions appear to single out this particular section of the population.

Despite this, vaccine hesitancy, which could hinder the national vaccine drive, has nothing to do with socio-economic status, said epidemiologist Dicky Budiman who is among several experts who oppose mandatory vaccination.

"The worsening COVID-19 conditions right now are not the fault of the people, it's the fault of the government. Tracing, testing and treatment have not been adequate and risk-communication strategies have been poor since the beginning. Don’t put more of a burden on the people,” he said.

Experts say that vaccine policy ideally should not discriminate against people, especially as a survey conducted last year by the Health Ministry in collaboration with UNICEF found that rates of vaccine acceptance in different income groups were generally equal across the board.

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