City prepares for next round of polio vaccination

City prepares for next round of polio vaccination

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In line with the nationwide polio vaccination drive, the Jakarta
administration vowed it would improve on its past performance in
reaching out to the public in the next round to be held on Aug.
30 and Sept. 27.

The concern was raised since the first vaccination round on
May 31 and June 28 was not considered a complete success because
not all under five children registered in the capital were
vaccinated although the polio virus has claimed the lives of
eight infants and toddlers as of August. The oral vaccine must be
taken four times to be effective, hence the children who received
the oral vaccine in May and June should join the upcoming
vaccination program.

"We encourage officials at the district and subdistrict levels
to be more aggressive in their campaign," Deputy Governor Fauzi
Bowo said on the sidelines of a meeting at City Hall over efforts
to disseminate information about the vaccination program.

He said that aside from health workers who will be deployed at
vaccination posts being erected in every three or four
neighborhood units, the administration would also get a helping
hand from volunteers from the subdistrict's family welfare
organization (PKK), school teachers, scouts, teenage members of
the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) and local youth groups in the
campaign.

The Jakarta Health Agency estimates that there are 922,963
children below five years old who have to be vaccinated.

At least 8,028 vaccination posts across the city will be set
up at community units and playgroup centers.

"We will also set up some posts at bus terminals, railway
stations and markets to target children who are not registered as
Jakarta residents," Jakarta Health Agency head Abdul Chalik
Masulili explained.

The health agency said that its workers would also make house
calls to check that all children had received the vaccine.

Abdul acknowledged that the administration was making an all-
out effort to invite parents whose children are below five to get
their children vaccinated since the last rounds in May 31 and
June 28 were not successful.

The number of children taking part in the June 28 vaccination
was much lower than the May 31 vaccination following reports from
the Legal Aid Institute for Health (LBH Kesehatan) claiming that
some children had fallen seriously ill after the first
vaccination as a result of allegedly substandard polio vaccine.

However, neither the Jakarta Health Agency nor the Ministry of
Health entertained any link between the vaccine and the infants
illness, and gave their assurance that the vaccine was safe.

Unfortunately, many parents were still not convinced.

"I won't take my two-year-old daughter for the vaccination
again. I won't put my child's health at risk," said Lies, a
resident of Kota, West Jakarta.

A father of a two-year girl in Karet in Central Jakarta said
doubted the safety of the free vaccine.

"We cannot expect good quality vaccine from such a free
program," he said.

The vaccination drive was triggered by a polio case discovered
early in May in Sukabumi, West Jakarta, some 60 kilometers south
of Jakarta, after the city had been free of polio for more than a
decade.