"70,000 Won for 2 Shots" Indonesia Temporarily Delays Paid Vaccine Amid Backlash

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Indonesia decided to charge for COVID-19 vaccinations but has temporarily postponed the plan due to strong public opposition.

According to Antara News on the 12th, Kimia Farma, a subsidiary of the state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma, was scheduled to start offering a service to administer two doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine for 879,140 rupiah (approximately 70,000 KRW) from that day.

The price per vaccine dose was 321,660 rupiah (approximately 25,000 KRW), and the vaccination service fee was 117,910 rupiah (approximately 10,000 KRW).

Kimia Farma had initially prepared to serve a total of 1,700 people per day at eight locations, starting with Central Jakarta and East Jakarta, followed by Bandung, Surabaya, Bali, and others, but suddenly announced the postponement of the service on the same day. Local media speculated that the postponement decision was due to "worsening public opinion against paid vaccine sales."

The Indonesian government launched a national free vaccination program on January 13 and, from May 18, allowed private companies to purchase vaccines and provide free vaccinations to their employees and families under the 'Gotong Royong' program (meaning mutual cooperation).

The plan was to allow the general public, who are not affiliated with any company, to receive the Sinopharm vaccine used in the Gotong Royong program at the same price but on a paid basis starting from that day. However, there has been strong opposition to the paid sales.

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) urged, "The paid vaccine policy is unethical and may cause citizens to misunderstand that paid vaccines are better," and called for a boycott movement. Some citizens raised concerns by recalling President Joko Widodo's previous statement that "all vaccines are free."

Since last month, Indonesia has seen a surge in confirmed cases and deaths due to the spread of the Delta variant. The daily new cases yesterday were 36,197, with 1,007 deaths. The number of people who have received at least one vaccine dose is 36 million, and those fully vaccinated with two doses number 15 million.