UPDATE: President Joko Widodo on July 16 cancelled the vax for sale program amid the criticism.
Original story follows below.
Starting today, you would have been able to pay for a COVID-19 shot at select Kimia Farma drug stores, but the program has been postponed at the eleventh hour amid high demand and controversy surrounding the rollout.
The postponement was confirmed today by the state pharmaceutical firm.
“The huge interest and the large number of queries [about the program] have led to a management decision to extend the awareness raising period as well as to finalize mechanisms for registration,” Kimia Farma Corporate Secretary Ganti Winarno Putro said.
No new launch date has been announced to the public.
The program, an extension of the Gotong Royong private vaccination scheme, was only announced to the public over the weekend. Under the program, one may get a Sinopharm or AstraZeneca shot for around IDR400K (US$27.62) each.
At the program’s launch, which was scheduled for today before the postponement, the jabs would have been available at eight Kimia Farma stores in the country to begin with, including three in Jakarta (Senen, Pulogadung, Blok M) and one in Bali (Batubulan). Each store would have been given a quota of 100-200 shots a day.
The vax for sale program would have marked a turn from Indonesia’s fully-subsidized mass vaccination program. Even under the Gotong Royong private vaccination scheme, companies are obligated to fully cover the cost of vaccinating their employees.
The program was met with significant opposition following its announcement, including from health and sociology experts, who called for the cancellation of the program. They argued that it would create a disparity for vaccine access among income groups, especially as supply is currently limited.
Neither the government nor Kimia Farma has outlined who would be eligible for the paid vaccination program. If it’s available to anyone who would and could pay, we imagine it would the answer to foreigners who are struggling to get vaccinated in Indonesia.
