70% Indonesians Reject Self-paid COVID-19 Vaccination: Survey

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The latest survey launched by a research firm KataData Insight Center (KIC) along with crowd-sourced database volunteer group KawalCovid-19 and an online petition website Change.org revealed that 70 percent of respondents rejected self-paid COVID-19 vaccination. Respondents argued that vaccines should be the right of all citizens.

The survey was held online on August 6-22, 2021, involving 8,299 respondents spread across Indonesia. 

The data showed that the majority of respondents did not agree with the government’s plan on self-paid vaccination, while 20 percent claimed they are willing to pay for the vaccine and the rest said they did not know.

KataData Insight Center Head, Adek Media Roza, said people who rejected the paid vaccine because of the current emergency situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and that vaccines are the rights of all citizens. Besides, paid vaccines were considered unfair to the poor.

“Some are also concerned that this paid vaccine will induce corruption,” Adek explained in a discussion with Change.org and KawalCovid-19 on September 29.

Meanwhile, respondents who agreed on the self-paid COVID-19 vaccination thought it could accelerate the vaccination program and minimize queues during vaccination. “They said that people who can afford the vaccine can buy it, while the free vaccine will be allocated to the poor,” Adek added.

Read: Health Minister Mulls to Offer Paid COVID-19 Vaccination in 2022

SRI RAHMAWATI