Indonesia’s Jokowi slams richer nations for vaccine nationalism

Indonesian President Joko Widodo slammed richer nations for vaccine nationalism that’s hampering the world’s supply of Covid-19 vaccines and prolonging the global pandemic.

“We must give vaccine access to all countries,” Jokowi, as the Indonesian leader is known, said in an interview on Wednesday. “Poor countries, developing countries, developed countries must be given equal treatment. If not, the pandemic will not end.”

While nearly 700 million doses have been administered worldwide, the vast majority of them went to people in richer countries and vaccine-producing nations. The European Union has sought to block shipments, while countries like the U.S. and the U.K. secured orders for more doses than their entire population needs.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization’s Covax initiative to supply developing countries has been held back by slow funding and moves by vaccine producers like India that sought to safeguard enough supply for domestic use.

For Indonesia, which has given out around 13.5 million vaccine doses, that vaccine nationalism means it has to slow down its program, as it will receive only 20 million vaccine doses instead of the 30 million expected in March and April.

Earlier this year, Jokowi set a target for the government to administer 1 million doses each day to reach herd immunity for its 270 million population. That number reached as high as 780,000 a day in March, before easing to about 500,000 recently and likely less as supply dwindles in the months ahead before picking up in July.

“On the field, there is no issue, the problem is the supply,” he said. “It is useless for a country to hoard vaccines, the coronavirus remains and infections will continue to spread.”