For regions that do not achieve the 70-percent target, we will evaluate it in the form of a warning and will impose sanctions in the form of disincentivizing or will not be given additional regional incentive fundsJakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Home Affairs Muhammad Tito Karnavian has vowed to impose sanctions on regions with low vaccination coverage.
Karnavian noted that at the end of 2021, his ministry will evaluate areas with vaccination coverage below 70 percent for the first dose.
"For regions that do not achieve the 70-percent target, we will evaluate it in the form of a warning and will impose sanctions in the form of disincentivizing or will not be given additional regional incentive funds," Karnavian said on Friday.
On the other hand, for regions having met the target, the Home Affairs Ministry will propose to the Ministry of Finance to provide additional regional incentive funds and general allocation funds.
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In addition, the minister emphasized that areas with low vaccination coverage will affect the national vaccination average.
"Hence, seeing that the vaccination rate in West Sumatra is still below 70 percent, I took the initiative to come here. I have reported to the president, and he urged the region to increase the vaccination coverage," Karnavian remarked.
The minister noted that his arrival to all regions in Indonesia, especially those with a low COVID-19 vaccination rate, was in keeping with a direct task assigned by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).
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"We are one of the ministries assigned by the president to encourage regional governments to speed up vaccination. The president has also assigned the minister of health, National Police chief, Indonesia Defense Forces (TNI) commander, head of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), and the Attorney General along with other stakeholders to collaborate in expediting vaccination," Karnavian concluded.
According to the Health Ministry's data on Friday, as many as 150,249,500 first doses (72.14 percent) of COVID-19 vaccines were administered to Indonesian citizens and 106,020,538 of them had been fully vaccinated.
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Translator: Boyke Ledy W, Resinta S
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
