Indonesia’s health ministry is partnering with Grab and medical app Good Doctor on a tech-supported vaccination initiative, rolled out first in Bali, followed by several other cities in the country. Indonesia started phase 2 of its program on February 17, targeting workers in public service and senior citizens.
“For the second phase, we’ll provide vaccines to 26.1 million elderlies and 17.5 million workers who interact with a large number of people, including Grab’s driver-partners,” minister of health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said during a press conference on Sunday. “The government cannot carry it out by itself, so we invite all constituents of the nation to make this movement a success.” He thanked Grab and Good Doctor for being the ministry’s first private partners in this effort.
The first vaccination center in Bali started operating on Saturday. The tech companies provide and manage the site, as well as the manpower, screen and invite the targeted vaccine recipients.
Bali, one of the most popular travel destinations worldwide, largely depends on tourism and has been struggling during the pandemic, as thousands of people lost their jobs. “We hope that with the 3,000 workers who get vaccines today we can make a big step in overcoming the pandemic, and initiate the recovery of the tourism sector,” said tourism and creative economy minister Sandiaga Uno who joined the press conference remotely.
Building on GrabHealth and Good Doctor’s digital infrastructure, pre-registrations and patient data can be processed efficiently, in close collaboration with the government, the partners said. The center will invite frontline tourism workers and public transport workers through text messages. Grab will further use in-app push notifications for its driver partners.
The vaccines will be provided by the health ministry and administered by appointed doctors and nurses. Grab and Good Doctor will run the centers, which also count on a drive-through option. From Bali, the partners plan to roll out the program to Bandung and Tangerang Selatan in March 2021, targeting to inoculate a total of 15,000 workers and elderly citizens, and later other Indonesian and Southeast Asian cities.
