City convinces public of polio vaccine safety on second round
City convinces public of polio vaccine safety on second round
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
First Lady Kristiani Yudhoyono is scheduled to open the second
phase of the polio vaccination drive in East Jakarta on Tuesday
in a bid to convince the public that the vaccination is safe.
Jakarta residents have grown uneasy about the program
following reports that some children had fallen seriously ill
after taking the first vaccination on May 31.
"Ibu Ani Yudhoyono is scheduled to attend the second polio
vaccination at a post in East Jakarta tomorrow," Jakarta Health
Agency spokesperson Zelvyno told The Jakarta Post, referring to
Kristiani Herawati, the wife of President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, by her nickname Ani.
Zelvyno said the presence of the President's wife was aimed at
reassuring the public that the vaccination was safe.
She declined to comment further on other measures taken by her
agency to convince the public to take their children under five
to vaccination posts on Tuesday.
A senior pediatrician of city-owned Budhi Asih hospital in
East Jakarta, Hot S. Hutagalung, confirmed that there was nothing
to worry about in the second immunization.
"This oral polio vaccine is safe since the vaccination doesn't
require any skill on the part of the health workers. It also
doesn't involve any medical equipment," Hutagalung said.
However, Hutagalung advised that sick toddlers should not
receive the vaccine until they get well.
"I think there will be health officers from the respective
community health centers at every vaccination post, who could
decide whether or not a particular child could receive the
vaccine," he said.
Concerns over the safety of the polio vaccine made headlines
following reports from he Legal Aid Institute for Health (LBH
Kesehatan), claiming that at least 61 babies, including six in
Jakarta, one in Depok, and one in Bandung, had fallen ill as a
result of substandard polio vaccines.
However, neither the Jakarta Health Agency nor the Ministry of
Health entertained any link between the vaccine and the infants
illness.
The Jakarta Health Agency reported that at least 923,000
children under five came to receive the oral polio vaccine in the
first round of the vaccination drive on May 31.
The number may drop during the second part of the vaccination
drive as many parents are still not convinced by the government's
assurances that it is safe.
"I won't take my two-year-old son for the vaccination, though,
I did bring him to receive the first vaccine. I won't put my
child's health at risk now after the report on substandard
vaccine," said Maria, a resident of Jatinegara, East Jakarta.
Similarly, Ritno, a resident of Casablanca, South Jakarta said
that concerns over the safety of the vaccine simply confirmed his
skepticism of government programs.
"Such vaccination programs are only for poor residents, who
cannot afford the vaccine, therefore, we cannot expect good
quality vaccine from them," said the father of a two-year-old
girl.
All children under five in the city must receive two doses of
the vaccine in order to ensure that the capital is free from the
wild polio virus.
The vaccination drive was triggered by a polio case discovered
early last month in Sukabumi, West Jakarta, some 60 kilometers
south of Jakarta, after the city had been free of polio for more
than a decade.