Covid-19: in Indonesia, the sanctions linked to compulsory vaccination are struggling to convince

Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, has only been able to fully immunize 36% of its population.

AFP - JUNI KRISWANTO

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In February, Indonesia announced to make the vaccine compulsory for all adults in the country, it was the first country to make this choice.

Ten months later, the fourth most populous country in the world has only been able to fully immunize 36% of its population.

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From our correspondent in Kuala Lumpur

,

Gabrielle Maréchaux

Mandatory vaccination for all adults was supposed to achieve herd immunity as early as possible in Indonesia.

But in this country of 17,000 islands, the possible sanctions for those who refuse the bite are decided at the local level.

“ 

Sanctions are under the authority of the districts and provinces which can decide on decrees,”

explains epidemiologist Dicky Budiman

.

This could be, for example, the inability to renew your driving license, or to have a letter of recommendation from the police which is sometimes necessary for a job.

Social assistance can also be a means of pressure, one can no longer receive it if one refuses to be vaccinated. 

"

Distribute the vaccine in remote islands

But between theory and practice, the reality is much more complex.

This kind of sanction remains rather rare and for good reason: before sanctioning the refractory, making the vaccine accessible always remains very problematic.

“ 

After focusing on the island of Java, the vaccination program tries to reach the rest of the country, islands with much less developed infrastructure.

So the big challenge today is to distribute the vaccine in these remote and rural islands,

 ”recalls Dr Budiman.

Thus the number of vaccine doses is no longer the priority issue for

Indonesia

, which must now focus on delivery while respecting the cold chain, by finding suitable air links.

For this, Unicef ​​notably delivered freezers to Indonesia.

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  • Indonesia

  • Coronavirus

  • Vaccines