City authorities to carry out massive polio vaccination

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Following the discovery of polio cases in Sukabumi, West Java, last week, the neighboring Jakarta administration revealed on Wednesday that it plans to take preventive measures by carrying out a massive vaccination program for all babies and toddlers in the city.

"We will launch a massive vaccination program for all children below five year old in the city on May 31 and June 28," Jakarta Health Agency head Abdul Chalik Masulili said during a hearing with City Council Commission E, which oversees people's welfare.

Chalik said that the administration would erect health posts across the capital to hold the vaccination, with each post to cover between three and four neighborhood units.

"We estimate that there are around 800,000 children below five years old that will be vaccinated at a cost of about Rp 10 billion," he said.

The administration will use its emergency fund to finance the free vaccination.

Chalik emphasized that all children would be subject to the vaccination, including those who had already been vaccinated recently.

"We just want to ensure that the city is really free of the virus. That's why we will pursue any children that fail to show up at the posts in the vaccination drive," he asserted.

Pediatricians say that ideally a baby must receive a polio vaccination three times in the first year and once every year up to five years to really develop immunity to the polio virus.

Side effects of the polio vaccination, like diarrhea and fever, are rarely found. An overdose in vaccination drops given to children will do no harm to immunized children.

As of Wednesday, the agency reported 17 cases of sudden paralysis, but so far no single case of polio infection was reported in the city.

The agency is required to conduct surveillance of hospitals and public health centers in the city to detect the incidence of contagious diseases. At least 23 patients with sudden paralysis, or acute flaccid paralysis, have been spotted this year.

There are 15 diseases that can cause paralysis, including polio and meningitis.

Last year, the agency found 50 patients with paralysis, but none of them were found to have contracted polio.

Agency spokesperson Zelvyno said that the agency was preparing for health workers to take part in the massive drive against polio.

"We are also coordinating with the administrations in Greater Jakarta, like Depok, Bekasi, Tangerang and Bogor to hold a similar vaccination drive," Zelvyno said.

The West Java Health Agency reported 18 suspected polio cases in Sukabumi.

The virus, which usually infects children, is suspected to have been carried in by groups of haj pilgrims or Indonesian migrant workers coming back from Saudi Arabia.

Many fear a polio epidemic in Indonesia after around 10 years of being free of the disease.

The government had set up integrated health service posts (Posyandu) in almost every neighborhood unit in the country during the administration of president Soeharto in which children receive immunization against different diseases, including polio.

However, the posts have been cut back drastically since the economic crisis in 1997, leaving many poor children with no access to vaccination.