Indonesia Starts ‘Gotong Royong’ Vaccination Scheme for Private Sector on May 17

KOMPAS.com – Private companies in Indonesia start the vaccination program called Gotong Royong (mutual cooperation) jabs for their employees on Monday, May 17 to curb the spread of Covid-19 and achieve herd community in the country.

Based on the Health Ministerial Regulation (Permenkes) No. 10/2021, the cost of acquiring the vaccines will be borne by the employers, while the vaccine will be administered to the employees at no cost.

President Director of Indonesia's state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma Honesti Basyir said two Chinese-made vaccines, Sinopharm and CanSino, will be used for the Gotong Royong Vaccination Program.

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“We will first use the Sinopharm vaccine for the Gotong Royong vaccination program,” Honesti told Kompas.com on Sunday, May 16.

“According to the plan, we will use the CanSino vaccine as well,” he added.

According to its procedures, the Sinopharm vaccine also requires two doses given 21-28 days apart. Under the scheme, the vaccine recipients will get the same type of vaccine at their first and second jabs.

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Sinopharm Vaccine

The Sinopharm vaccine is an inactivated vaccine called SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (Vero Cell). This vaccine contains SARS-CoV-2 that has been inactivated (killed) to prepare the body to defend itself against the virus and the vaccine cannot cause the disease.