Health Workers to Get Priority Access to COVID-19 Vaccine: SOE Minister

Minister of State-Owned Enterprises after meeting with the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) and the Indonesian Nurses Association (PPNI) in Jakarta, Wednesday (3/9).

Health workers will be prioritized for vaccination when COVID-19 vaccine is ready early next year, according to Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir.

“Our meeting was focused on mapping all health workers, doctors, and nurses who will be the first to get vaccinated when the vaccine is ready next year. (The health workers) will also be in the forefront of implementing mass vaccination,” Erick said during a press conference after meeting with the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) and the Indonesian Nurses Association (PPNI) in Jakarta, Wednesday (3/9).

The meeting, Erick added, also aims to discuss measures to lower risks among health workers amid the pandemic through improvement of safety protocols and protection, and vaccination.

In the meantime, during the meeting the IDI and the PPNI explained that 1.5 million health workers, including doctors, nurses, and midwives, some of whom work for the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) and the Indonesian National Police (Polri), are ready to support the vaccination scheduled for early 2021.

According to Erick, who also helms the Committee for COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery, the IDI and the PPNI will determine the criteria and qualifications of doctors, nurses, and midwives who will be listed in the first batch of vaccination.

“In addition, we will have a special team in the COVID-19 Task Force, working hand in hand with the IDI and Ministry of Health, which will review the vaccine to make it effective and well-targeted,” Erick said.

The Minister further said that the guidelines for health workers and its implementation will be reformulated to reduce the number of positive cases of COVID-19 and lower mortality rate among health workers.

“All in all, we must pay the most attention to safety protocols and protection for doctors and nurses to reduce mortality risks,” Erick said. (Communication Team of the COVID-19 Task Force and PEN/EN)

Translated by: Ridwan Ibadurrohman
Reviewed by: Muhammad Ersan Pamungkas