The acceleration of the COVID-19 vaccination programme is expected to reduce the alarming rate of transmission in Indonesia.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has therefore raised the vaccination target to 3 million per day for October, updated from previous targets of 1 million vaccinations per day in July and 2 million per day in August.
On Tuesday 29th June, the Indonesian government determined that the Gotong Royong vaccination can now be accessed by individuals and not just business entities, including foreigners.
Vaccinations for foreigners over 18-years-old can be carried out through the vaccination program (VP) or gotong royong vaccination (VGR), according to the stipulated provisions and referring to the established procedures. The Health Ministry will ensure that the vaccines are given safely and that their quality is also maintained.
The VGR can be done in health facilities that serve the vaccination program, regulated by the changes of the Health Minister’s circular letter and the settings in the P-Care System. Therefore, each district or city is to assign one health facility for the gotong royong vaccination service, which will be a paid, walk-in service. Under certain conditions, the vaccine used for VGR may be the same as the vaccine used for VP.
Vaccination Program
The Indonesian government-based vaccination program is targeted at foreigners who are senior citizens, education personnel, and representatives of foreign countries and international non-profit organisations.
VP is free of charge and is carried out in public health centres, clinics, hospitals, and Port Health Offices across the country. Participants are required to have and present a residence permit, ID number, KITAS/KITAP, and passport number.
Gotong Royong Vaccination
The definition of gotong royong vaccine has changed to implement COVID-19 vaccination to individuals who will pay for the vaccine direct as well as to employees, families, or other individuals whose payment is borne or charged to legal entities or business entities.
This means that foreigners other than employees of legal entities or business entities may register for VGR. The difference between the government vaccine is that foreigners only need their passport to follow this program.
VGR is implemented in public or private health facilities and owned by state-owned enterprises that meet the requirements. The purchase price of the vaccine is Rp321,660 per dose and the maximum rate for vaccination services is Rp117,910 per dose.
Immunisation staff at the Health Ministry, Prima Yosephine, stated that VGR for individuals is still relatively new.
“This morning, we had a meeting with PT. Biofarma to ask them to announce where the health facilities are and what the requirements are. Be patient. It won’t be too long until more details are officially announced,” commented Prima in a webinar held by PerCa Indonesia on Thursday 7th July.
Data Collection
Data collection can be through PT. Biofarma directly or through the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN). The data that has been collected is then submitted to the Health Ministry through the information system of one vaccination data or SI Satu Data.
Target data includes name, date of birth, address, ID number, KITAS/KITAP, and passport number. This process is implemented by the top-down and bottom-up mechanisms.
The top-down mechanism is carried out by collecting data from relevant ministries, institutions, business entities, or agencies. Bottom-up is carried out collectively by agencies, business entities, institutions or organisations, as well as by regional officials, health centres (puskesmas), or other health service facilities implementing COVID-19 vaccinations and coordinated by the district or city’s health office, as well as the provincial health office.
Vaccination Flow
According to Prima, the current flow of vaccination services is only divided into two. First, participants gather in the waiting room where vaccination staff check whether participants have been registered or not through pedulilindungi.id. Once confirmed, recipients are required to fill in the pre-screening form.
“Afterwards, participants can directly start the screening process with a doctor and get vaccinated,” said Prima. “We are accelerating vaccinations for both Indonesians and foreigners in the country. However, this all depends on the availability of logistics.”
Regarding to recipients who have received their first vaccine dose but didn’t receive an SMS from pedulilindungi for their vaccine certificate, Prima speculates there might have been an error while recipients input their phone numbers because this notification will be automatically sent once the first dose is completed.
“The app is handled by Telkom and is new. Adjustments will be made soon,” Prima added.
e-KTP for Foreigners
One of the requirements foreigners must meet is having an ID number. This number is only obtained when a foreigner has made their e-KTP or electronic ID card to be recorded as Indonesian residents, but do not have the status of Indonesian citizens.
The Home Affairs Ministry explained that the e-KTP of foreigners could be known from the registered citizenship status as regulated in article 63 of law number 24 of 2013 concerning amendments to law number 23 of 2006 concerning Population Administration (UU Adminduk).
“Instead of the e-KTP being forbidden for foreigners, it is mandatory for foreigners who already have a permanent residence permit and are over 17-years-old to have an electronic ID card,” said Director General of Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration of the Home Affairs Ministry, Zudan Arif Fakrulloh.
Head of the Data and Information Division of the Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration Office at DKI Jakarta Province, Alina Balqis, said during the webinar that foreigners can register their residency and make ID cards through the current full online service on silaporlagi.jakarta.go.id.
Once registration is done, foreigners are required to go and have their fingerprints scanned and photo taken. A maximum of 20 people per day is allowed, however.
“This pandemic has brought positive impacts of foreigners starting to become more aware of each document and how important accurate data is,” Alina commented.
Zudan clarified, during the webinar, that foreigners can process their e-KTP and residence certificate (SKTT) in all offices across the country by simply showing their passports, without the need of a police certificate of registration or cover letters from heads of RT, RW, sub-districts, etc.