Indonesia begins inoculating tribal communities

Indonesia has begun inoculating its tribal communities against corona virus disease (COVID-19) after resolving an administrative hurdle that barred them from accessing the crucial jabs. All of Indonesia's vaccine target population was required to provide a citizenship identification number, known as NIK, to register for the vaccine in the early phase of the national vaccination drive. However, in its order issued on Aug. 3, Indonesia's Health Ministry said citizens without NIKs could get inoculated too. Tribe's people from the deep forest of Jambi and the Riau provinces on Sumatra island were among the first to be inoculated earlier this month after the order was issued.

They are part of an estimated 70 million Indigenous tribes people, many of whom live in remote areas and retain a nomadic and traditional way of life.

Gusrinety, a dentist and head of a community health center in the Penerokan village of Jambi's Bajubang sub-district, said she and her team had inoculated 21 people from the Suku Anak Dalam tribal community at the neighboring Bungku village's community health center.

"We recorded their data manually. It was their first jab, and they were among the ones in their community who were willing to get inoculated and were not afraid of injection," Gusrinety, who uses one name, told Arab News.

She said it was a good start given the limited infrastructure and facilities, including vaccine supply, the challenging terrain to access Bungku, and widespread misinformation about the vaccine.