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Raffi Ahmad under fire for breaching COVID-19 protocols after vaccination
Hours after getting his first COVID-19 vaccine shot, photos of Raffi Ahmad attending a social gathering without wearing mask were circulating on social media.
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elevision personality and actor Raffi Ahmad has come under fire for allegedly attending a social gathering without wearing a mask, mere hours after he received the government’s first COVID-19 vaccination alongside President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Images depicting the celebrity posing for a group photo alongside his wife Nagita Slavina and other notable figures, who included racer Sean Gelael, actor Gading Marten as well as former Jakarta governor and state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina president commissioner Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, have been circulating on social media platforms.
In the photos, they are seen committing apparent violations of the prevailing physical distancing and mask-wearing rules.
Manteb ya, Raffi Ahmad, teladan bagi jutaan khalayak yang dianggap bodoh oleh pemerintahnya 😌 pic.twitter.com/6hWvaBIDPU
— 👁️🗨️👁️🗨️ (@kopiganja) January 13, 2021
Many netizens were quick to point out what they perceived to be Raffi’s purported “betrayal” of the government’s trust, as he disregarded the health protocols the same day he was picked as the first member of the public to be inoculated against COVID-19.
Read also: President Jokowi gets first coronavirus jab
Meanwhile, several other celebrities also took to Twitter to criticize Raffi’s alleged disregard for health procedures.
Musician Sherina Munaf took a jab at Raffi’s purported negligence, while calling on her fellow celebrity to set a good example to millions of his social media followers.
Halo Raffi Ahmad, setelah divaksin bukan berarti keluyuran rame2 dong. Anda dipilih jatah awal2 vaksin karena followers banyak. Dengan alasan yang sama, tolong berikutnya konsisten beri contoh yang baik. Please you can do better than this. Your followers are counting on you.
— Sinna Sherina Munaf (@sherinasinna) January 13, 2021
“Getting vaccinated doesn’t mean [you can] gather in large numbers. You were selected for early vaccination because you have a tremendous following. By the same logic, please follow it up by consistently setting a good example,” she wrote on her official Twitter page @sherinasinna.
“Please, you can do better than this. Your followers are counting on you,” she continued.
Similarly, filmmaker Ernest Prakasa considered Raffi’s behavior to be “out of line”.
Yup, saya berhasil terlihat tolol. But it’s really not about me. Tindakan Raffi menurut saya keterlaluan & tidak menghargai keistimewaan yang ia dapatkan. https://t.co/fWm93zrUwh
— Ernest Prakasa (@ernestprakasa) January 13, 2021
“Raffi’s behavior, in my opinion, is out of line and betrays the privilege granted to him,” @ernestprakasa tweeted on Thursday.
In response to the controversy, the Presidential Palace reached out to Raffi and reminded him to remain compliant with the COVID-19 protocols to minimize the odds of further viral transmission.
“The COVID-19 communication team has reminded [Raffi] to abide by the health protocols,” said Presidential Secretariat head Heru Budi Hartono on Thursday as quoted by tempo.co.
Following the stream of criticism, Raffi publicly apologized on Thursday to Jokowi, the Presidential Secretariat, as well as the public at large for Wednesday evening’s event.
“I did not intend to disappoint anyone, because, thank God, I was lucky enough to be the first person to be vaccinated,” he said, while also urging the public to continue abiding by the health procedures during the pandemic.
University of Indonesia epidemiologist Pandu Riono told The Jakarta Post that health protocol compliance remained crucial following initial vaccination, given that it typically took two weeks for a vaccine to take full effect. A second injection is required two weeks after the first inoculation to ensure immune response stimulation.
“Vaccination is meant to minimize the risk of becoming sick; it is not aimed at preventing infection,” Pandu said. “Therefore, the [mask-wearing, hand-washing and social-distancing] protocols are still crucial.”
Read also: 'Long road' to herd immunity even with COVID-19 vaccination
Jokowi and Raffi’s inoculations on Wednesday marked the start of a mass vaccination drive, in the wake of contentious public discourse surrounding the efficacy, as well as possible adverse effects, of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
Indonesian drug regulators previously announced that the vaccine’s efficacy stood at a relatively low 65.3 percent, according to clinical trials performed in Bandung, West Java.
The government has negotiated firm orders for some 330 million doses and optional supplies of 330 million more from Sinovac, the United States’ Novavax and Pfizer, the United Kingdom’s AstraZeneca and the COVAX Facility.
As of Wednesday, Indonesia had reported a total of 869,600 COVID-19 cases and 25,246 deaths caused by the disease.
