The PromKes Technical Working Group for the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, along with Breakthrough ACTION kicked off activities for the COVID-19 vaccine campaign and community engagement with the identified five provincial health offices. These activities are supporting USAID’s goal of accelerating widespread and equitable access to and delivery of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccinations in Indonesia.

The meeting was conducted virtually on February 8th, 2022. Dr. Imran Agus Nurali, Sp. KO Director of Health Promotion and Community Empowerment, MoH, opened the meeting and said that the vaccine campaign is very important especially among the elderly who are vulnerable and have comorbidities. He hopes that the Breakthrough ACTION project can contribute to increasing the vaccine uptake through multi-media campaigns and community engagement activities. Drg. Kartini Rustandi, M.Kes, Acting Secretary-General, Directorate Public Health. MoH, said that the COVID-19 pandemic has had multiple effects and affected basic health services, such as Posyandu and health services for other diseases such as dengue fever. She hopes that the Breakthrough ACTION campaign and community engagement activities can address behavioural change issues accordingly.

Representatives from Riau, East Java, West Kalimantan, NTT, and South Sulawesi attended this meeting including Heads of Provincial Health Offices, Public Health, Health Promotion & Community Empowerment, Family Health, Disease Prevention & Control (P2P), and Surveillance and Immunization.

The Breakthrough ACTION project was presented in detail including the communication campaign plan, community engagement activity, and introducing the Breakthrough ACTION provincial coordinators to the stakeholders. In particular, the BA team explained the criteria for selecting the districts including mid to low vaccination coverage; has good community participation; good local government commitment; and overlaps with USAID implementing partners (IPs) areas. The districts identified for the interventions are: Riau (Kampar and Dumai); East Java (Lumajang and Pasuruan); West Kalimantan (Kubu Raya and North Kayong); East Nusa Tenggara (Kupang and South-Central Timor); South Sulawesi (Sinjai and Bantaeng).

The qualitative assessment, which is designed to better understand the perceptions about COVID-19 vaccination for those who are unvaccinated, identify the barriers and reasons for not being vaccinated, and the sources of information was presented. Also, information was provided on how it would be implemented and where.

Participants agreed to have a follow-up coordination meeting with other stakeholders in the second and third weeks of February. These meetings will aim to increase coordination and commitment from the local government for the activities and campaign.