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.