Deputy Minister of Health Dante Saksono Harbuwono has emphasized that until now, the government has not opened the option of independently acquiring the COVID-19 vaccine.
The government is still focused on the free vaccination program.
Dante said that people who have sufficient finances and intend to get a vaccine still have to wait for their vaccination priority. This means that people who are able must follow the timeline set by the Ministry of Health.
“Vaccines are procured in an organized manner by the government, so for the time being, the private vaccination route has not been opened yet,” said Dante.
The Ministry of Health has set four COVID-19 vaccination timelines for 181.5 million people in the country. This group is expected to be fully vaccinated in 15 months or by March 2022.
The targets of the first stage of the COVID-19 vaccination are health workers, assistant health workers, support staff, and students who are currently undergoing medical professional education working in health service facilities. The total number of people who are targeted for this tranche of vaccine administration is 1.3 million people.
For the second phase, there will be two sub-categories defined by the government for implementing the vaccination program; 17.4 million for public officials and 21.5 million for the elderly. The third group is targeted at vulnerable people from geospatial, social, and economic aspects with a total of 63.9 million.
The fourth target is the community and other economic groups with a cluster approach in accordance with the availability of vaccines, with a target of 77.4 million people.
The regulation is stated in the decree of the Director-General of Disease Prevention and Control number HK.02.02 / 4/1/2021 regarding technical guidelines for vaccination in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 COVID-19, signed by the Acting Director-General of Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health Budi Hidayat on 2nd January 2021.