Should vaccination against Covid-19 become compulsory for adults in France? Elsewhere in the world this idea is gaining ground, heading for Greece and Indonesia
Greece imposes compulsory vaccination
Now in Greece, those over 60 are obliged to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and they have until mid-January, on the 16th to be precise. Otherwise, they will be fined 60 euros per month. A measure strongly criticized by the opposition who would like to focus on the explanation and not on what it calls financial repression. In order to encourage them to be vaccinated, unvaccinated people can only go to work with a test every 48 hours at their expense. In Greece the PCR test costs between 60 and 80 euros. All fun outings even with a test are prohibited. Any parent who objects to their child wearing a mask at school is prosecuted. Ditto for the muscular groups which intervene against the vaccination centers. Finally, according to some deputies it would be necessary to proceed, if necessary, sorting in saturated intensive care units between vaccinated and non-vaccinated patients. In the face of the outcry, we did not talk about it any more but the idea is well and truly in the air.
The government has taken half measures this summer. There is no control for the faithful who go to mass and we always communicate with the same spoon for everyone. The vaccination campaign is in full swing but the barrier gestures have been abandoned and there is no real control in the schools. Finally, there is a singular shortage of medical personnel and intensive care units. There are only 1,000 intensive care beds for the whole country. Lastly, anti-vaccines are very strong, especially in the north of the country and until recently they were supported by the Church. The government has set itself the goal of convincing at least half of it, ie 20% of the remaining unvaccinated population.
A compulsory vaccine in Indonesia but less than 40% of vaccinated
In February 2021, Indonesia was the first country to make Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for all adults in the country. This measure was supposed to make it possible to achieve collective immunity as soon as possible. Yet ten months later, the world’s fourth most populous country has only been able to fully immunize 36% of its population. If this obligation comes from the central government of Indonesia, the possible sanctions for those who refuse the injection are the responsibility of the regional authorities, recalls epidemiologist Dicky Budiman: “Sanctions are under the authority of the districts and provinces which can decide on decrees. This could be, for example, the inability to renew your driver’s license, or to have a letter of recommendation from the police which is sometimes necessary for a job. Social assistance can also be a means of pressure, one can no longer receive it if one refuses to be vaccinated… ”
But between theory and practice, the reality is much more complex. These sanctions remain rather rare and for good reason: before sanctioning the refractory, making the vaccine accessible still remains very problematic in an archipelago made up of 17,000 islands. Today, the number of vaccine doses is not so much the priority issue for Indonesia, which is facing problems of transporting these doses to remote islands or rural areas. And it is difficult to find suitable air links for this, to respect the cold chain, to find infrastructure capable of organizing vaccination. Another major concern, vaccination often requires showing up-to-date identity papers, with a current address, a requirement that can slow down vaccination.
It is difficult to say if the coercive approach has had an impact on the way people approach the vaccine. But one thing is certain, it does not reduce the many reluctance that remains. These may be related to religious issues, for some Indonesians the vaccine is considered “haram”, or illegal for Muslims. Others are very suspicious of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, the one used mainly. Locally, finally, it is a very old mistrust of the Indonesian authorities in general that hinders the vaccination process, in Papua, this region which is experiencing a great number of disturbances between the national army and the indigenous populations with sometimes independentist inclinations.