When 64-year-old Eshak Mohammad passed away last 1 August, many were upset in the Rohingya refugee camp where he lived in Medan, in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. In large part, they were saddened that Pak Cik – as Mohammad was more fondly known – was gone. That he died because of complications due to COVID-19, though, also reminded his fellow Rohingya of their need to get vaccinated, which at the time did not look like it would happen anytime soon.
In a country with a big population and a limited vaccine supply, the chances of a refugee getting a jab against the coronavirus are slim. Weeks after Pak Cik’s death, however, local authorities in Medan are indicating that refugees would be included in the vaccine rollout there.
“In a Zoom meeting that was attended by regional leaders, representatives of relevant agencies, UNHCR, IOM, and Rudenim on 26 August, there was a discussion of vaccination for refugees, including Rohingya refugees,” says Vincentius Purwo Hendratmoko, head of the Medan Immigration Detention Center (Rudenim). “They are in our territory so they are also required to get the vaccine immediately.”
Rohingya refugee Eshak Mohammad was buried in this COVID-19 burial site in Medan, Indonesia. His death is a grim reminder to his fellow refugees of their need to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease. (Photo by Nurni Sulaiman)
Hendratmoko says that while Indonesia has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention, it nevertheless attends to the needs of the refugees it hosts, including providing them with vaccinations. But he admits that the plan’s implementation is still being discussed and “will be re-coordinated” once the vaccines are ready to be distributed.
As things stand, it may all boil down to supply and what local authorities decide on. So far, refugees in Bekasi, West Java, as well as those in Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara, East Aceh in Aceh, and Pekanbaru in Riau have had shots.
A group of 81 Rohingya that was stranded at sea close to Idaman Island in Aceh province last June also received their first shots of a COVID-19 vaccine soon after they reached the shore. The group was transferred to Medan on 10 June. The gap between the first and second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine is supposed to be in the range of 14 to 28 days. As of 4 September, however, this group of Rohingya had yet to receive second jabs. At the time, IOM Program Coordinator Sonya S. Wallenta said that the organization would coordinate with the local government in Medan for the refugees’ second doses.
Unmet target
Indonesia currently has at least 13,500 refugees from at least 16 different countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, and Somalia. About 7,000 of these refugees are under the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the rest under the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In Medan, those who are not yet on the lists of these organizations are on Rudenim’s.
One ex-lawmaker recently requested that COVID-19 vaccination for refugees or asylum seekers not be charged directly to Indonesia because the country has yet to meet its vaccination target of 70 percent of the population, which it believes would be enough for it to achieve herd immunity. This is even though Indonesia was the second earliest country in Southeast Asia to launch a COVID-19 vaccination program, and has been administering jabs since January this year.
Indonesia has the largest population among Southeast Asian nations, with some 270 million people. The government has set a total target of vaccinating 208.2 million individuals. As of the end of August, however, Indonesia’s own COVID-19 Task Force was saying that the country’s total number of first vaccinations had reached only around 63.1 million or 30.3 percent from the target, while the total number of second vaccinations was about 35.8 million or 17.22 percent from the target. From a target of giving two million doses per day, the government is now aiming for 2.3 million daily.
The country has also started administering booster shots to health workers. Recently, however, some politicians were revealed to have somehow received booster jabs, earning them criticism from the public, with many pointing to the millions of Indonesians still to be vaccinated.
For sure, the country’s vaccination rollout has been far from smooth. Aside from the logistical difficulties posed by having to transport the vaccines across a sprawling archipelago of more than 17,500 islands, Indonesia is also having to compete with other countries to secure a steady supply of jabs from just a small number of manufacturers. Not surprisingly, it is constantly running out of shots. The government has tried to solve this partly by having various sources for the jabs. It began its vaccination program with Sinovac from China, but it has since been using as well vaccines by Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford/AstraZeneca, and Sinopharm.
Priority groups
Like most countries, Indonesia has set priority groups for vaccination. First in line are the health workers, followed by those with jobs that have a high risk of contracting and transmitting COVID-19 because they cannot maintain distance effectively (such as members of the Indonesian Army and National Police or TNI dan POLRI) and other public service officers. Next come people with comorbidities. After all these three groups have been vaccinated, the general public would be up for their jabs, but still starting with residents in areas with many COVID-19 cases.
Officially, those with valid Indonesia ID cards can avail of the vaccines provided free by the Indonesian government. Foreigners meanwhile can apply for their jabs through their respective embassies. The relevant embassy will contact the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) to get a schedule. There are also embassies such as those of the United States, Germany, Britain, and Japan that have brought in COVID-19 vaccines for their citizens in Indonesia.
Foreigners who work for an institution, company, business entity, or legal entity can apply for vaccination through their companies as well. The company then asks BUMN pharmacies to provide vaccinations.
Refugees, however, are obviously not about to head to the embassies of their home countries for vaccines. And instead of residency permits or passports, refugees have only UNHCR registry numbers.
In North Sumatra, a top official who declines to be named says of refugees: “They are already in our territory, living side by side with us. Of course, they should also get vaccinated like us.”
But the official concedes, “Vaccination for … refugees is possible as long as the vaccine is available and the target has been met. The main obstacle at this time is the number of vaccines is not sufficient in the region.”
Medan’s situation
In fact, vaccine distribution has been erratic and uneven outside of Java. In Medan, which is some 1,400 kms northwest of the national capital Jakarta, the vaccination program often stalls because of the lack of vaccines. So far, Medan has recorded the highest number of COVID-19 deaths – 825 – in North Sumatra, where the mortality rate among those with the disease is currently 2.46 percent.
North Sumatra has 1,799 refugees at present. According to Rudenim, as of 2 September, Somalis make up the biggest group at 567 people, followed by Afghans with 333, and then the Rohingya from Myanmar with 261. The rest of the refugees in the province come from 13 other countries.
Kabir Ahmed, a Rohingya refugee, and his family live in Medan. Kabir married an Indonesian woman with whom he has four children. He is registered as a refugee, but the rest of the family is not. Only he gets a living stipend, which poses problems for the family. (Photo by Nurni Sulaiman)
At the Pelangi refugee community where Pak Cik once lived, the 175 Rohingya who are still there remain worried. Not one of them was tested for COVID-19 even after health authorities found out that Pak Cik had succumbed to the disease, so no one really knows if anyone among them also had it – or has it now. At the very least, they were all made to self-isolate; then again, that happened to be in line anyway with the government’s decision to impose emergency public activity restrictions from July to September this year.
Noor Hussain echoes other Rohingya at Pelangi in saying that he is overcome with fear of the pandemic. Fellow Pelangi resident Kabir Ahmed, who has been stuck in Medan for the last decade, meantime says, “We have not received any vaccination information for Rohingya refugees. We are still waiting because we are also afraid of being infected.”
Louis Hoffmann, IOM Chief of Mission in Indonesia, noted in an official statement: “The pandemic does not discriminate across borders, or within communities, and no one is safe until we are all safe. This means addressing all members of the community in health provisions and especially through vaccinations.… In coordination with the Indonesian Government and other stakeholders, IOM is partnering to support the availability of vaccination for all community members, including refugees across the country.” ●
Nurni Sulaiman is a journalist based in Medan, Indonesia, and has been actively writing for The Jakarta Post since 2007. She covers various issues, including refugee rights, inequality, gender, environment, bilateral and multilateral cooperation, culture, economy, and sports.
