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FKUB joins government campaign for COVID-19 vaccine
The Interfaith Communication Forum (FKUB) is joining a campaign spearheaded by the executive director of the government’s COVID-19 Response and Economic Recovery Committee Erick Thohir to raise the public's awareness regarding the importance of the highly anticipated COVID-19 vaccine.
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The Interfaith Communication Forum (FKUB) is joining a campaign spearheaded by the executive director of the government’s COVID-19 Response and Economic Recovery Committee Erick Thohir to raise the public's awareness regarding the importance of the highly anticipated COVID-19 vaccine.
In a short video posted on his Instagram account, @erickthohir, six FKUB members representing various religions in Indonesia express their support for the government’s vaccine program.
“We are supporting the government’s effort to break the COVID-19 transmission spread. Vaccination is the correct solution for all of us,” chairman of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Hindu Religious Council (PHDI), I Gusti Ngurah Sudiana, said in the video clip.
The video also featured Istiqlal Mosque grand imam Nasaruddin Umar who said that the vaccine and strict implementation of health protocols were the solutions the country needed to curb the pandemic.
“God willing, we can protect ourselves and our nation through vaccination and strict health protocol implementation,” he said.
Read also: Indonesia on track for Jan. 13 vaccination drive
Erick, who is also the state-owned enterprises minister, turned to Instagram to reach out to religious communities, which could play a key role in supporting the government’s vaccination drive. He was aware that the pandemic was forcing religious communities to adjust their worship traditions and that the public were longing for a moment when they could gather and pray as they used to before the pandemic.
Experts have repeatedly called on the government to amplify their effort to combat anti-vaxxers and to anticipate the possibility of this group using misleading narratives to discourage people from getting the vaccine.
“Several steps need to be taken before launching [the vaccination] program, such as preparing an effective communication strategy,” Griffith University epidemiologist Dicky Budiman said previously, adding that conspiracy theories surrounding the pandemic had led to widespread ignorance.
Dicky has also warned that many people have expressed opposition to the COVID-119 vaccine, portraying it as a dangerous thing. “[Such false claims] will make it harder for some of our people to accept the vaccine,” he said.
Read also: Regions may sanction COVID-19 anti-vaxxers amid plans for emergency use
West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil considered issuing bylaws last year to punish people who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The possibility of sanctioning COVID-19 anti-vaxxers was raised as the central government seeks to secure emergency-use authorization as soon as possible for several experimental vaccines. The government hopes to roll out the vaccination program as early as this month, while the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) recently indicated that it might be able to issue emergency approval for Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech’s candidate vaccine this week.
The Jakarta administration, meanwhile, issued late last year a bylaw on COVID-19 handling that also stipulates sanctions for people resisting the vaccination program. Article 30 of the bylaw stipulates that anyone deliberately refusing to undergo COVID-19 treatment and/or vaccination will be fined up to Rp 5 million (US$35).
Deputy Jakarta governor Ahmad Riza Patria recently mulled increasing the fine to Rp 7 million “if the opposition includes coercion or violence”, according to kompas.com.
