ABSTRACT
In this chapter on the Indonesian experience of COVID, Yohana Susana Yembise (Universitas Cenderawasih) and Rob Goodfellow (Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative (HADRI)) at Western Sydney University (WSU), argue the response was characterised by a fundamental shift in state policy from initial denial to more decisive national leadership. It also concentrates on the impacts of the pandemic felt on Indonesian civil society. This shift brought coordinated science-based action that was centred on a nationwide mass vaccination programme, largely modelled on previous experience with HIV-AIDS. This transition in thinking and practice occurred within context of difficulties, limitations, and restrictions facing the Indonesian government.
