Vice President Orders Polri to Supervise and Fully Support COVID-19 Vaccination
Vice President Ma’ruf Amin. (Photo: Cabinet Secretariat)
Vice President Ma’ruf Amin ordered Chief of the Indonesian National Police (Polri) and all his ranks to supervise and completely support the COVID-19 vaccination program that the Government is carrying out.
He gave this order at the Evaluation Report Meeting and Announcement of Service Excellence Award Winners in Precinct Police (Polres)/City Police (Polresta)/Capital City Police (Polrestabes)/Metropolitan Police (Polres Metro), on Tuesday (16/02/2021).
“On this special occasion, I order Chief of the Polri and all ranks of the police to supervise and provide full support to the success of COVID-19 vaccination program,” he said.
Since mid-January 2021, the Government has begun the vaccination program to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve herd immunity, 181.5 million people or approximately 70 percent of the population must be vaccinated.
To successfully carry out the vaccination program, the Government needs support from all stakeholders, including Polri. This full support is essential as the COVID-19 vaccination program is the largest and most determining program that Indonesia has ever executed.
“I would like to repeat that this task cannot fail and must be successful and completed, because vaccination is the most effective way to repress and prevent the COVID-19 virus transmission, besides implementing strict health protocols,” stated the VP.
Furthermore, the Vice President said that on 9 February 2021, the Government has issued Presidential Regulation Number 14 of 2021 on the Amendment to Presidential Regulation Number 99 of 2020 on Vaccine Procurement and Vaccination to Overcome the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic. The Regulation includes administrative sanctions for those who refuse or hinder vaccination.
“The point is to assert that COVID-19 vaccination is obligatory for those who have been registered by the Ministry of Health and meet the requirements for vaccination targets,” he asserted.
The Vice President also urged all people to understand, support, and obey all rules of health protocols and COVID-19 vaccination as a realization of the second and third principles of Pancasila (the Indonesian State Ideology).
“Getting vaccinated and adhering to health protocols are the manifestation of Just and Civilized Humanity, because we protect other people as well as ourselves and our family from the deadly virus transmission and attack,” he said.
Those measures are not enough if the vaccination only covers less than 70 percent of the population since herd immunity will not be established. The Vice President then urged the people to practice the third principle, Unity of Indonesia.
By obeying health protocols and getting vaccinated, as means of implementing the second and third principles of Pancasila, the Vice President was optimistic that the efforts to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts would be successful.
“This is our time to implement the humanity and unity principles for the success of overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic and rise again to build and achieve the goal of advanced Indonesia,” he stated. (Bureau of Press, Media, and Information of the Vice Presidential Secretariat/AIT/UN) (DH/MMB)
