Beyond health regulations: Lessons from vaccine acceptance and the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic

Vaccine acceptance is a critical issue to study because it provides a means of measuring a nation’s success in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in nations where vaccine hesitancy has historically been common. This article seeks to explore the non-medical reasons for public acceptance of vaccines. More specifically, it asks: why has Indonesia, a Muslim-majority nation with elevated levels of resistance to the government’s COVID-19 mitigation policies, ultimately implemented vaccine mandates? This article relies on qualitative research, using a case study as well as in-depth interviews with one hundred randomly selected respondents. It shows that public acceptance was driven not by health considerations, but by coercive regulations. Three factors drove public acceptance: proof of vaccination was legally required to access public facilities; proof of vaccination was legally required to access public transportation systems; and proof of vaccination was legally required to access government assistance. Facing such regulations, the public had no choice but to comply with vaccine mandates, as only then could they access public facilities, travel, and access government assistance. This study concludes that coercive vaccination policies, though repressive, have been effective means of ensuring public compliance and reducing the spread of COVID-19. This study provides the government with considerations for formulating more effective policies for pandemic mitigation.