Beyond the shadow of a doubt, Indonesia’s vaccine diplomacy is reaping rewards.

Nearly a year into the COVID-19 outbreak, and despite a very clumsy start to the government’s pandemic response, the country has secured commitments from various foreign partners for the delivery of a future stockpile of more than 300 million doses of vaccine candidates.

More deals are likely to be struck, but in theory, Indonesia will have secured vaccine access to a majority of its 274 million population – provided that the resulting medical products are both safe and effective.

A great deal of effort has been expended to reach these goals: three Cabinet ministers have been sent abroad to shop around in an effort to save millions of Indonesian lives and an economy on the brink of recession.

With 215 or so countries around the world competing for early access to a possible cure to the deadly coronavirus disease, the Indonesian public will see that the government’s efforts have paid off, and that any funds allocated to these efforts is money well spent.

The government has also thought through its priorities for vaccine distribution; the first wave of incoming vaccines is meant to be given to the medical practitioners on the frontline who have risked their lives treating others.

And although there is still a sizable amount of vaccines allocated for our wealthy politicians, at least we will not have to contend much with the problem of anti-vaxxers. It is also very likely that our religious leaders will make sure that all the eventual vaccines are halal, regardless of whether they are manufactured by China, the United Kingdom or the United Arab Emirates.

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