VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A spokesperson of the Health Ministry's COVID-19 vaccination Siti Nadia Tarmizi. ANTARA/Martha Herlinawati Simanjuntak/sh - 

The government has set the price for Sinopharm complete vaccination at Rp879,140 per person,Spokesperson of the Health Ministry's COVID-19 Vaccination Siti Nadia Tarmizi said.

The price was set based on the Health Ministerial Decree No. HK.01.07/MENKES/4643/2021 on the purchasing price of Sinopharm vaccine and maximum service fee in Gotong Royong vaccination drive, Tarmizi said here on Sunday.

Based on the decree, the Sinopharm vaccination fee was set at Rp439,570 per person. It comprises the maximum price per dose which is set at Rp321,660,  and maximum administration fee at Rp117,910, she said.

"As each person will need two doses of vaccines. Thus, the total price will be Rp879,140," she said.

Previously, Professor of pulmonology and respiratory medicine of the University of Indonesia Prof Tjandra Yoga Aditama said in an online discussion that the more people get vaccinated, the better.

"If possible more people should be vaccinated in whatever way, and the faster the vaccination is conducted the better," he said.

In fact, Indonesia has started vaccination program, not only for COVID-19, since years ago. "Free vaccine can be obtained in Public Health Centers (Puskesmas). In hospitals, we can get paid-vaccination," he said.

However, in some countries, vaccination is free of charge, he said.

The self-funded Gotong Royong vaccination campaign was launched on May 18, 2021.

Based on the Indonesian Health Ministry's Regulation No.10/2021 on the Gotong Royong Vaccination Scheme, all vaccine costs will be borne by participating companies under the program.

The government-funded vaccination program is using Sinovax vaccines bought from China and AstraZeneca vaccines received through the WHO-coordinated COVAX Facility//ANT

People walk without wearing masks as Italy lifts mandatory masks outdoors thanks to a decline in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases and hospitalisations, in Rome, Italy, June 28, 2021. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane - 

An upsurge in new coronavirus variants and poor access to vaccines in developing countries threaten the global economic recovery, finance ministers of the world's 20 largest economies warned on Saturday (Jul 10).

The G20 gathering in the Italian city of Venice was the ministers' first face-to-face meeting since the start of the pandemic. Decisions include the endorsement of new rules aimed at stopping multinationals shifting profits to low-tax havens.That paves the way for G20 leaders to finalise a new global minimum corporate tax rate of 15 per cent at a Rome summit in October, a move that could recoup hundreds of billions of dollars for public treasuries straining under the COVID-19 crisis.

A final communique said the global economic outlook had improved since G20 talks in April thanks to the rollout of vaccines and economic support packages, but acknowledged its fragility in the face of variants like the fast-spreading Delta.

"The recovery is characterised by great divergences across and within countries and remains exposed to downside risks, in particular the spread of new variants of the COVID-19 virus and different paces of vaccination," it read.

While G20 nations promised to use all policy tools to combat COVID-19, the Italian hosts of the meeting said there was also agreement to avoid imposing new restrictions on people.

"We all agree we should avoid introducing again any restriction on the movement of citizens and the way of life of people," said Italian Economy Minister Daniele Franco, whose country holds the rotating G20 presidency through to December.

The communique, while stressing support for "equitable global sharing" of vaccines, did not propose concrete measures, merely acknowledging a recommendation for US$50 billion in new vaccine financing by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization.

Differences in vaccination levels between the world's rich and poor remain vast. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called the divergence a "moral outrage" that also undermines wider efforts to tame the spread of the virus.

Brandon Locke, of the public health non-profit group ONE Campaign, decried what he described as the G20's inaction, calling it "a lose-lose situation for everyone".

"Not only will it cost lives in poorer countries, it increases the risk of new variants that will wreak havoc in richer ones," he said.

Italy said the G20 would return to the issue of vaccine funding for poor countries ahead of a Rome summit in October and that new variants was an area that needed to be looked at. It did not give further details.

"We must agree on a process for everyone on the planet to be able to access vaccines. If we don't, the IMF predicts that the global economy will lose US$9 trillion," religious development organisation Jubilee USA Network said.

It was referring to an IMF forecast that international cooperation on COVID-19 vaccines could speed world economic recovery and add US$9 trillion to global income by 2025//CNA

Relations between Beijing and Pyongyang have fluctuated over the years, but the two sides have moved to strengthen their alliance since 2018 AFP/Jung Yeon-je - 

Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have vowed to bring their relations to a "new stage" as the two countries mark the 60th anniversary of a friendship pact, Pyongyang's state media reported on Sunday (Jul 11).

China is North Korea's longtime ally and economic benefactor, their relationship forged in the bloodshed of the Korean War, when Mao Zedong sent millions of "volunteers" to fight US-led United Nations forces to a standstill.

The two countries signed a treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance in the event of an armed attack on Jul 11, 1961, with Mao describing the allies as close as "lips and teeth".

Relations have fluctuated over the years due to Pyongyang's growing nuclear ambitions, but with negotiations between North Korea and the US at a standstill, both sides have moved to strengthen their alliance.

"Despite the unprecedentedly complicated international situation in recent years the comradely trust and militant friendship between the DPRK and China get stronger day by day," Kim wrote in his message to Xi, referring to the North by its official name.

In the message carried by the KCNA news agency, Kim highlighted the role of the pact in "ensuring peace and stability in Asia and the rest of the world now that the hostile forces become more desperate in their challenge and obstructive moves".

Xi wrote he planned to bring "greater happiness" to the two countries and their people "by steadily leading the relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries to a new stage," KCNA said.

Kim paid his first visit to China in March 2018 and the two leaders have now met five times.

The exchange of messages is the latest sign of renewed ties between the neighbours, which analysts say is aimed at the US amid gridlocked nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington and worsening US-Beijing tensions.

The two allies' relations have had discord since the end of the Korean War, he added, and they will "never really trust each other".

But they need each other to deal with Washington, Park added.

"And the closer they get, the harder it will be to denuclearise North Korea."//CNA

Chief of Jakarta Transportation Office, Syafrin Liputo, along with Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan (second row, left) and secretary of Jakarta provincial government, Marullah Matali (second row, right), gave a press statement following a ceremony discharging eight officers of the transportation office at the Jakarta City Hall on Friday (July 9, 2021). ANTARA/Ricky Prayoga - 

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has said that 50 percent of Jakarta residents need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus to build herd immunity and control COVID-19 transmission.

"So our homework is not over. The homework is still long. It must be done seriously," he said at an online press conference here on Saturday.

Vaccinations must be done by involving all sides to persuade residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19, he added.

"The success (of the program) will not be (determined by) how many vaccines have been administered, but how many residents have been vaccinated," he remarked.

As of Friday (July 9, 2021), more than 5.38 million Jakarta residents have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose and over 1.95 million residentshave been fully vaccinated against the virus, he disclosed.

The Jakarta provincial government is intensifying the COVID-19 vaccination of residents aged 12 years and above at a number of vaccination centers, he said.

The provincial government has also rolled out mobile vaccination services targeting residential areas, including densely-populated areas, he added.

The result of a serology survey conducted by a team of researchers from University of Indonesia's public health faculty has shown that 49.2 percent of Jakarta residents contracted COVID-19 in June, 2021.

Baswedan expressed the hope that the residents who contracted the infection would have immunity against SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.

UI epidemiologist Pandu Riono said vaccinations should be high on the list of the Jakarta administration's priorities since nearly 50 percent of Jakarta residents have no antibodies against the virus//ANT