TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - House of Representatives (DPR) Health Commission IX Speaker, Felly Estelita Runtuwene, on Sunday’s written statement criticized the government’s decision to impose punishments for people who oppose the Covid-19 vaccination, which some refer as anti-vaxxers. She said this policy violates the deal between the government and legislators had made previously.

The punishment for anti-vaxxers is mentioned in the Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No.14/2021 on the changes over Perpres No.99/2020 on vaccine procurement in mitigating the coronavirus crisis.

“The meeting between DPR Commission IX with the government had agreed that sanctions for people who refuse vaccination will not be prioritized,” Felly wrote in a statement on February 14.

Felly specifically referred to the brief report on the meeting between Commission IX, the Health Ministry, the Food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM), and the the Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan), which explicitly stated that “Provisions and/or fines or criminal charges will not be prioritized by Covid-19 vaccine recipients.”

She believes that the government, based on what they agreed upon prior to the meeting, had implemented rules that contrasted the decision. “The presidential regulation, according to the meeting, has contradicted. What use is it to conduct meetings if there is no legitimacy,” the NasDem politician remarked.

Felly argues that the government’s rules contradicts what the World Health Organization (WHO) strongly suggested, which is to overcome negative perceptions against Covid-19 vaccination through better persuasive approaches that includes a better apporach handling anti-vaxxers.

Also Read: Amnesty Indonesia: Enforcing Vaccination is Against Human Rights

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