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.

Also read: Indonesia Halts Use of an AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine Batch After Death of Vaccine Recipient

“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.

Also read: Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Drops among Indonesians: Health Ministry

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.

The vaccine has also been declared safe for use. The country’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has issued an emergency use authorization for the vaccine on April 29.
Besides, the vaccine has also received a halal certificate from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI). The government has signed a contract to procure the Sinopharm vaccine for 7.5 million doses.

CanSino Vaccine

The government has prepared five million doses of the CanSino vaccine developed by CanSino Biologics Inc. The patent was granted by the Chinese government on August 11 last year. CanSino, however, only requires one dose.

(Writer: Retia Kartika Dewi | Editor: Inggried Dwi Wedhaswary)

Source: https://www.kompas.com/tren/read/2021/05/17/073200565/vaksinasi-gotong-royong-dimulai-hari-ini-ada-2-vaksin-yang-digunakan?page=2.