Govt reiterates vaccine's importance<\/p>\n
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
As nearly 800,000 babies were not immunized against polio in the
\nfirst mass vaccination, the government has urged wary parents to
\nparticipate in the next mass vaccination to be given in August
\nand September.<\/p>\n
Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari said on Friday that
\npeople need not to worry over the safety of the polio vaccine.<\/p>\n
\"Don't hesitate to bring your children. The World Health
\nOrganization (WHO) has said the polio virus here is malignant so
\nwe have to halt its spread,\" Siti said.<\/p>\n
According to the ministry, 6,548,515 babies were immunized
\nduring the first stage of the May 31 mass vaccination carried out
\nin three provinces: Jakarta, West Java and Banten.<\/p>\n
The second dose of the vaccine was given on June 28, however,
\nattendance dropped by 12 percent to 5,756,046 babies, or just
\n91.5 percent of first-stage attendance.<\/p>\n
The decline was probably a reaction to the death of a nine-
\nmonth-old girl six days after her first dose of polio vaccine on
\nMay 31. Her parents filed a law suit against the government, but
\na link between the baby's death and the vaccine has not been
\nproved.<\/p>\n
WHO's senior advisor David Heymann said the media needed to be
\nresponsible in its coverage, and convince people the vaccine is
\nsafe.<\/p>\n
\"The polio virus spreading here is malignant and the attack
\nrate is high. The virus will always seek a weak point, it will
\nattack the population that cannot maintain a protection level and
\nhas a low prevention rate,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In the next mass vaccination, targeting 24.3 million infants
\nacross the country, the first dose will be given on Aug. 30 and
\nthe second on Sept. 27.<\/p>\n
Siti said the government had coordinated with foreign agencies
\nincluding WHO, UNICEF and Rotary International, regarding vaccine
\navailability, operational cost, epidemiology surveillance and
\nsocial mobilization.<\/p>\n
The number of doses of polio vaccine needed is 69,770,440,
\nwith 71.3 percent or around 49 million doses to be provided by
\ngovernment-owned pharmaceutical firm PT Bio Farma, and the rest
\nto be provided by donor agencies.<\/p>\n
The total budget for the upcoming vaccination weeks is around
\nRp 230 billion (US$24.21 million), with some Rp 100 billion to be
\nfinanced through the State Budget, and the rest from donor
\nagencies.<\/p>\n
Up until July 7, the ministry recorded 259 cases of Acute
\nFlaccid Paralysis (AFP), with 122 of those cases diagnosed as
\npolio. The cases occurred in nine regencies: four regencies in
\nWest Java, three in Banten, one in Central Java and one in
\nLampung -- the first case to occur in Sumatra in a decade.<\/p>\n
The first case to appear in Indonesia since 1996 was detected
\nin April of this year in Sukabumi, West Java -- a densely
\npopulated town closed to the capital Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Polio sometimes causes paralysis and it can kill people. It is
\nbelieved the virus returned to Indonesia via Saudi Arabia, either
\nthrough migrant workers or Muslim pilgrims returning from Mecca,
\nwho may have passed on a strain of the virus originating in
\nNigeria.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-reiterates-vaccines-importance-1447893297",
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