Health workers step up polio vaccination drive<\/p>\n
Michael Casey, Associated Press\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Thousands of health workers were going door-to-door on Wednesday
\nin search of children who were missed in the nationwide polio
\nimmunization drive on Tuesday, after some parents expressed fear
\nthe vaccine was unsafe or violated Islamic law.<\/p>\n
Turnout in Tuesday's campaign that targeted 24 million
\nchildren was good in the capital and other urban areas, said
\nUnicef's Claire Hajaj, but the level of participation in some
\nrural villages appeared to be much lower.<\/p>\n
"It's not totally unexpected on the first day of a campaign
\nlike this," said Hajaj, who works on the U.N. agency's global
\ncampaign to eradicate polio in six countries where it is endemic
\nand 17 others, including Indonesia, that have recently been re-
\ninfected.<\/p>\n
"That is why today's house-to-house drive can be make or
\nbreak."<\/p>\n
Polio has sickened 225 children and one adult since the virus
\nreappeared in Indonesia in March for the first time in a decade,
\nand the World Health Organization is worried the crippling
\ndisease could spread to other Southeast Nations if not tackled
\nhead on.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government was pulling out all stops to help.
\nTens of thousands of health workers fanned out across the
\nsprawling archipelago on Tuesday, and 245,000 posts were set up
\nat clinics, bus depots, rail stations and airports.<\/p>\n
The Army and police helped deliver vaccine - by plane, boat,
\nbicycle and foot -- to some of Indonesia's 6,000 inhabited
\nislands.<\/p>\n
Preliminary turnout figures were just starting to trickle in.
\nIn Bogor, a district on the heavily populated Java island, more
\nthan 90 percent of all 533,825 youngsters targeted got the
\nvaccine, local health workers said.<\/p>\n
But in some villages only 75 percent showed up.<\/p>\n
Many of those parents were dissuaded by false media reports -
\nand claims by some local health workers -- that sick children
\ncould not be vaccinated, said Dr. Eulis Wulantari, a doctor in
\nBogor, where 25 children have been stricken by the virus.<\/p>\n
She and others taking part in Wednesday's door-to-door sweep
\nwere trying to convince parents otherwise.<\/p>\n
In Pabuaran, an impoverished farming village about two hours
\noutside Jakarta, more than 100 of 268 children didn't get
\nvaccinated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
"My baby had a fever and they (village health workers) said
\ndon't bother with the vaccine," said Nur, a local resident.<\/p>\n
But she agreed to let her 1-1\/2-year-old daughter get
\nvaccinated on Wednesday after Unicef and local health workers
\ntold her it was safe.<\/p>\n
"It's no problem. I was never told it was important to get her
\nvaccinated," Nur said.<\/p>\n
Rumors have also circulated that vaccinations led to the death
\nof four children and violate Islamic law, similar to whisperings
\nthat spread through Nigeria during a polio outbreak there in
\n2003.<\/p>\n
Vaccinations in the African nation were suspended for several
\nmonths after radical Islamic preachers told parents they believed
\nthey were part of a U.S. plot against Muslims.<\/p>\n
WHO is worried the virus could cross Indonesia's borders and
\nturn into an epidemic if it isn't stopped by the rainy season,
\nwhich begins in October.<\/p>\n
"Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Malaysia are a concern. China is
\na concern," said Georg Petersen, WHO's representative in
\nIndonesia. "In all these countries, there are areas where the
\nimmunization coverage is not good."<\/p>\n
Polio spreads when unvaccinated people come into contact with
\nthe feces of those with the virus, often through contaminated
\nwater in places with poor hygiene or inadequate sewage systems.<\/p>\n
It attacks the nervous system in young children, causing
\nparalysis, muscular atrophy and sometimes death. Only about one
\nin 200 of those infected ever develops symptoms.
\nA second round of vaccinations will take place on Sept. 27.<\/p>",
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