The gotong-royong vaccinations will worsen the inequalities in access to vaccines. Free vaccinations must remain the priority.

Cartoon: Yuyun Nurrachman

The number of deaths from Covid-19 in India has soared following a religious celebration. Unfortunate result of populist decisions taken based on electoral interests.

The Covid-19 pandemic in India is getting worse. Lax health protocols skyrockets infection rates. Health facilities are overwhelmed.

In the middle of the pandemic, the government is allowing music concerts and sporting events to be held. This is inconsistent with government’s prohibition for homecoming or mudik in Idul Fitri.

The Research and Innovation Consortium for the Acceleration of Covid-19 Mitigation developed 50 products. Government institutions involved in handling the pandemic are less enthusiastic in adopting these innovations.

The initial policies of the central government were deemed ill-suited. One of them is the hospital on Galang Island, whose planning is considered premature. Coordination between central and local governments in handling the pandemic is not very good.

A year after Covid-19 broke out in Indonesia, cases of infection exceeded 1.4 million and the number of deaths reached 38,000. Indonesia is in 18th position in the world in terms of the number of victims, far surpassing China, the country of origin of the outbreak.

Scores of hospitals sent back hundreds of thousands Covid-19 test kits from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB). The Finance and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) discovered discrepancies of up to hundreds of thousand reagent kits recorded and distributed worth almost Rp40 billion up to September 2020. Meanwhile, the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), which scrutinized procurement documents up to December 2020, discovered potential losses sustained by the state amounting to almost Rp170 billion. A businessman who enjoyed the largest portion of direct appointment for reagent procurements is a colleague of BNPB Chairman Doni Monardo. This investigation is made possible by a collaboration of Tempo with the Investigative Journalists Club and ICW.

Viruses are wars without borders. There is no space or time that can be completely ordered and stabilized in indices and maps. Contagion and healing go on within traces of differing attitudes towards life, sickness, and death.

A reader takes issue with used medical waste during the pandemic. 

Celebrity participation and threats of prosecution are not effective ways to encourage public participation in the Covid-19 vaccination program. This will only lead to more opposition.

A reader views that the Job Creation Law should have involved a comprehensive study and discussing all clusters.