Indonesia Highlights: Indonesia’s President Jokowi Criticizes Uneven Global Distribution of Covid-19 Vaccines | Indonesian Police Bust Illegal Covid-19 Vaccine Ring in North Sumatra Province | 32 Hea

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesian President Joko Widodo continues to call for more equal distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine as well as the government’s support for the TRIPS Waiver, which would suspend intellectual property rights on vaccines in the WTO.

Indonesian police in North Sumatra has uncovered a ring selling Covid-19 vaccines to the general public over the past month. The bust comes less than a month after investigators arrested five people for reusing used test kits in the province’s Kualanamu Airport.

And health officials in Cilacap continue to have their hands full with the B.1.617.2 Covid-19 strain from India, after the mutation is suspected of infecting 32 medical personnel in the area’s biggest hospital weeks following the arrival of an Indian ship. This and more on Indonesia Highlights:

Pixabay/kfuhlert A Covid-19 vaccination

Indonesia’s President Jokowi Criticizes Uneven Global Distribution of Covid-19 Vaccines

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo continues to maintain Indonesia’s advocacy for more equal distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine, more than a year after the coronavirus ravaged countries around the world.

“The global disparity to access the vaccine is still wide," he said on Friday.

“As a number of [developed] countries started to vaccinate low-risk segments of their population like children and adolescents, the lowest-income countries have only received 0.3 percent of [global] vaccine supplies.”

“Developed countries received 83 percent of global Covid-19 vaccine doses, while developing countries received 17 percent for 47 percent of the world’s population," he noted. "We will only be safe from Covid-19 if all countries recovered from the coronavirus. No one is safe until everyone is.”

He proposed a number of short, medium, and long-term solutions.“The short-term solution is to intensify vaccine sharing programs such as the Covax facility. [The program] is a form of solidarity that should be encouraged, especially to deal with supply issues,” he said.

As for medium and long-term solutions, Jokowi called on countries around the world to “increase the production of vaccines to meet global demand and build-up health security. Technology and investment to increase production capacity [for the Covid-19 vaccine] should also be used.”

He pointed out that positive global economic growth will depend on how countries around the world will deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

“G20 countries must get behind efforts to increase production of the Covid-19 vaccine and equal access to them for all countries. Indonesia supports the TRIPS [Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights] Waiver to prevent and treat COVID-19,” Jokowi declared.

He added that Indonesia, as a G20 country, has decided to support post-sponsor proposal for the TRIPS Waiver, which would suspend intellectual property rights on vaccines in the WTO.

Source:

https://go.kompas.com/read/2021/05/23/034214274/indonesias-president-jokowi-criticizes-uneven-global-distribution-of-covid-19?page=all#page2. 

KOMPAS.COM/DEWANTORO Boxes of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine that was used as evidence against an illegal vaccination ring

Indonesian Police Bust Illegal Covid-19 Vaccine Ring in North Sumatra Province

Police in the Indonesian province of North Sumatra has arrested four individuals in the provincial capital Medan for running an illegal Covid-19 vaccine ring that has been selling the vaccinations to the public.

North Sumatra Regional Police chief Inspector General Panca Putra Simanjuntak identified the suspects as three civil servants, whom he identified as IW, KS, and ASN, and SW, a property agent.

“IW is a doctor at the Tanjung Gusta Penitentiary, while KS is a doctor at the North Sumatra Health Service. ASN works alongside KS in the same office,” he said in a press conference Friday.

“The [North Sumatra Provincial Administration] entrusted IW vaccines with doses of the Sinovac vaccine to vaccinate the Tanjung Gusta [prison staff] and inmates, as he was the prison doctor.”

Panca added that IW charged the public Rp. 250 thousand [$17.40] for a shot. “The group vaccinated 1,085 people during 15 illegal group vaccination drives, 14 of which were held in Medan and one in Jakarta since April 2021." he noted.

Panca said that SW procured and organized the recipients for the illegal vaccine drive. “I was involved in the vaccine ring to facilitate a number of friends who wanted to be vaccinated,” SW said.

“My friends paid up the [Rp. 250 thousand] fee to me in cash, which I then disbursed to the doctors.”

Panca said IW reiterated her under questioning. “IW admitted that he got the vaccines from his colleague SH after he filed the request. He also admitted to carrying out illegal vaccination drives in Jakarta,” he said.

Panca asserted that the four made Rp. 271,250,000 [$18,879.14] over the past month, before the police shut down their illegal operation.

Source:

https://go.kompas.com/read/2021/05/23/062727374/indonesian-police-bust-illegal-covid-19-vaccine-ring-in-north-sumatra-province?page=all#page2. 

Cilacap Regional General Hospital

32 Health Workers in Cilacap, Central Java Exposed to Indian Covid-19 Variant

The Indian B.1.617.2 Covid-19 strain continues to put the Central Java port town of Cilacap on edge, after 32 staff of the Cilacap Regional General Hospital tested positive for the coronavirus.

“The rapidity with which the medical staff was exposed to the B.1.617.2 mutation reflects that how it can transmits more quickly than other strains,” said Cilacap Regional General Hospital Director Ichlas Riyanto on Saturday.

“The only symptom that they have which led us to suspect that they contracted [the B.1.617.2 Indian mutation] is the speed with which they contracted Covid-19. Other than that, their symptoms are similar to [the SARS CoV2] strain common in Indonesia.”

Ichlas said the staff will tighten their use of personal protective equipment or PPE, as well as health protocols. The B.1.617.2 Covid-19 strain was found on 13 Filipino sailors on board an Indian cargo ship that sailed to Cilacap from the country last April.

The authorities verified the results from genome tests. At least one of the sailors was confirmed to have died of Covid-19 at the hospital.

Source:

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2021/05/22/182600478/varian-covid-19-yang-ditemukan-di-cilacap-disebut-menular-lebih-cepat