VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) averred here on Wednesday that the COVID-19 vaccine will be administered at no cost to the public.

"After receiving many inputs from the public and making re-calculation, and re-calculating the state financial standing, I can confirm that the COVID-19 vaccine would be offered free of charge to the public," Jokowi stated during a press conference aired by the Presidential Secretariat.

The head of state has instructed ministries and state institutions as well as local governments to accord priority to the vaccination program in the 2021 budget.

The president also instructed Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati to prioritize and re-divert funding from other sectors for offering free vaccination.

"Hence, there is no reason for the public to not get the vaccine," Jokowi emphasized.

The 1.2 million vaccines recently procured by the government will be prioritized for groups that are most at risk of contracting COVID-19, especially medical personnel, Dr Masdalina Pane from the Indonesian Epidemiologists Association (PAEI) revealed recently.

The next group to be prioritized during vaccination are individuals providing services to the community and thereafter highly mobile people.

Pane made a public appeal to always exercise discipline in implementing the 3M protocols of wearing masks, washing hands with soap, maintaining distance, and avoiding crowds to prevent transmission of COVID-19.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, is not expected to disappear any time soon. Hence, by applying the 3M protocols, communities will be able to conduct activities while continuing to co-exist with COVID-19, Masdalina noted. (Antaranews)

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) highlighted the government's continued efforts to reform public service and licensing sectors to lower the possibility of corruption.

Reforming sectors related to public interests, including the micro, small, and medium business sector, will be high on the list of the government's priorities, the head of state noted at a virtual function marking World Anti-Corruption Day 2020 from the State Palace here on Wednesday.

"Sectors directly related to the interests of people at large, sectors influencing the business ecosystem, particularly micro, small, and medium businesses, became the center of the government's attention," he affirmed.

The government will continue to structurally reform the sectors on a large scale. To this end, it will simplify overlapping and complicated regulations and bureaucracy, he noted.

"This will be supported by the application of digital technology, such as e-budgeting, e-procurement, e-audit, and other applications," he remarked.

System improvement necessitates effective internal and external supervision involving non-government institutions and public participation, he stated.

"The professionalism of law enforcement apparatuses plays a central role in taking action against and preventing (corruption)," he affirmed. (Antaranews)

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati spoke at length on the digital transformation policy direction for the 2020-2024 period to optimize the potential to maintain financial system stability.

Digital technology can boost the economy but concurrently has the potential to create disruption and instability, for which the right policy direction is deemed necessary, Indrawati affirmed.

"Maintaining financial system stability by leveraging digital technology has become crucial," the minister noted in Jakarta at a virtual Indonesia Digital Conference on Wednesday.

Indrawati highlighted five strategic issues that have become the basis to design the policy on digital transformation, including to address the shortcomings of no internet service in four thousand villages, merely 54.7 percent of the country's population being internet users, slow internet speed with fixed broadband speed of 14 Mbps as compared to the global average of 43 Mbps, and national mobile broadband speed at 10 Mbps as compared to 22.16 Mbps of the global average.

Another strategic issue is the least developed industry in information and communication technology coupled with inadequate quality and quantity of human resources in the sector.

"In order for Indonesia to optimize and maximize the potential of the digital economy, we need to support various policies on infrastructure and human resources," she pointed out.

The government has readied three strategies to implement digital transformation: the completion of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure development, the use of digital infrastructure, and development of supporting facilities.

Four key indicators for the development of ICT infrastructure are the coverage of optical fiber or Palapa Ring, fixed internet broadband speed of 25 Mbps and mobile broadband speed of 20 Mbps, increased ICT Development Index reaching 5-5.3 points, and 100-percent digital broadcast.

The use of digital infrastructure covered five indicators: establishment of three new startup unicorns, implementation of electronic-based government services, online service for farmers and fishermen, smart cities, and scholarship for digital talent.

The development of supporting facilities encompasses three indicators: Indonesian one data, intra-government network, and national data center.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, we can see that this transformation has run remarkably fast, so we need to accelerate the development of infrastructure in this digital information and communication sector," she stated.

According to Indrawati, the digital transformation policy aims to create equal communication access across Indonesia and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of government services for the public and businesspersons.

"It should not only be enjoyed by big cities or provinces with advanced infrastructure. We are optimistic that all regions would be covered by the digital infrastructure," she remarked. (antaranews)

Garuda Indonesia Group is set to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine throughout Indonesia, albeit through the provision of special flights to transport the vaccine in huge quantities.

"We have made several preparations. In addition to being ready to transport (the vaccine) through our existing flight routes, we will train our cabin crew on how to handle (the vaccine) while transporting cargoes," Garuda Indonesia President Director Irfan Setiaputra noted in a written statement released on Wednesday.

Setiaputra pointed to the major challenge posed in the distribution of the pharmaceutical product since stringent health standards and protocols are mandated.

Quality, safety, and security during cargo handling, application of hygiene protocols, and accurate time of cargo delivery are quintessential to the pharmaceutical product distribution chain, he pointed out.

Hence, Garuda Indonesia remains committed to ensuring that the company is ready to address the myriad challenges by securing the pharmaceutical certificate, among others.

"Of course, we also hope that this certificate would be able to expand Garuda Indonesia's cargo business portfolio, through pharmaceutical cargo transport services, that we have projected to become a promising market share in future," he stated.

The Drug and Food Control Agency (BPOM) awaits the clinical test result for the COVID-19 vaccine and data from China's Sinovac Biotech before issuing vaccine authorization, according to the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Working Committee Chairperson Airlangga Hartarto.

"We are optimistic of the BPOM soon issuing the emergency user authorization, and now, it still awaits data from Sinovac and the result of clinical trial conducted in Bandung (West Java) and Brazil scheduled for completion on December 15," Hartarto, concurrently the coordinating minister for economic affairs, noted on the sidelines of the Bisnis Indonesia Award 2020 here recently.

Hartarto remarked that the availability of 1.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine was expected to emerge as a game changer to cut the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and encourage economic recovery.

"Indonesia has continued to boost economic recovery by maintaining a balance between COVID-19 handling and economic recovery," he remarked.

In 2021, Indonesia will receive 1.8 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine ready for administering, while in December 2020, another 15 million doses of the vaccine will arrive in the form of raw materials to be further processed by state-run vaccine manufacturer Bio Farma for production. (Antaranews)