Government claims success in polio vaccination drive
Government claims success in polio vaccination drive
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The first round of the national vaccination drive against polio
on Aug. 30 was considered quite successful as it reached 95
percent of the targeted children under five years old, the health
minister said.
This represents 22.1 million children out of 23.31 million
children under five in 33 provinces across the country.
However, Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari said on Monday
the number of children paralyzed by the disease continued to
rise, as the polio virus in the country has a high attack rate.
Within the past six months, 236 children under five have
contracted the disease, or seven cases higher than the figure 229
released on Sept. 1.
She urged parents to bring their children for the second
vaccination on Sept. 27, particularly in Papua where the first
only reached 64.8 percent of children.
"The next round should reach 100 percent of children, so that
there will be no more polio cases found in the country, and we
can achieve the target of making Indonesia free of polio by
2008."
She reiterated that the vaccine used in the country is safe,
and is the very same vaccine given to 10 billion children all
over the world.
Nearly one million children were not vaccinated during the
vaccination drive in June, due to unfounded rumors that the
vaccine caused the death of four children earlier this year.
The waterborne virus spreads when unvaccinated people come
into contact with the feces of those with the virus, often
through contaminated water in places with poor hygiene or
inadequate sewage systems.
After nearly a decade after it was believed to have been
eradicated in the country, the virus reemerged in April. It
attacks the nervous system in young children, causing paralysis,
muscular atrophy and sometimes death.
The virus has a high attack rate, as within only six months,
it has been contracted by 236 children under five living in 22
regencies and cities in six provinces.