President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) through a video statement uploaded on Wednesday, December 16 decided that the COVID-19 vaccine for the public was free.

The decision to free vaccines was taken after the government heard input from the public and carried out a recalculation of state finances.

Jokowi said in a video statement uploaded to the Presidential Secretariat YouTube account, “After receiving input from the public and after recalculating, recalculating state finances, I can say that the COVID-19 vaccine for the public is free. There is no charge at all,”

In addition, he instructed the Minister of Finance to prioritize and reallocate another budget for the availability of this free vaccine. So, in the future, there will be no more reasons for the community not to get vaccines.

Previously, the Indonesian government prepared two COVID-19 vaccination schemes, namely the government program scheme and the independent scheme.

For the procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine, the government program scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes), and the independent scheme is implemented by the Ministry of BUMN. Of the immunization coverage target of 107 million people, 75 million are for the independent scheme target group, while 32 million are for the government program scheme.

Vaccination targets for government schemes are health workers in all health facilities, essential public servants, and vulnerable groups of people. Meanwhile, the independent scheme includes other economic actors, namely BPJS participants, non-BPJS / other insurance, and public/private participants.

This independent scheme then raises the pros and cons. Because, in this scheme later, residents who want to get vaccines must spend from their own pockets.