Government starts second round of polio vaccinations
Government starts second round of polio vaccinations
Agencies, Jakarta
Jakarta, West Java and Banten began the second round of a polio vaccination campaign on Tuesday as the confirmed number of cases in the country's first brush with the disease in 10 years rose to 65.
Last month, about 6.5 million children were vaccinated in the three provinces to counter further outbreaks.
On Tuesday, women and children flocked to medical centers in the three provinces for a second dose of the vaccine, a couple of drops of which are squeezed into the mouth of each toddler.
The second round of vaccinations began with a group of young children in East Jakarta and was inaugurated by Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari and the first lady, Ani Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"The immunization campaign today (Tuesday) is hoped to reach between 6.4 and 6.5 million infants under the age of five in the three provinces of Jakarta, Banten and West Java," said health ministry spokesman Supriyadi.
Immunization posts set up across the three provinces will provide free immunization for eight hours from the early morning, he said.
Residents gave a positive response to the second round of vaccinations, despite reports that several children died after being immunized late in May.
Officials discovered in April several new cases of polio in Sukabumi regency, West Java, almost nine years after the country had been declared free of the disease.
Polio is believed to have returned to the country via Saudi Arabia, either through migrant workers or haj pilgrims returning from Mecca.
There is no known cure for the waterborne virus that usually affects infants and young children and causes paralysis, withered muscles and sometimes death.
Polio is spread when unvaccinated people come into contact with the feces of those with the virus, often through water. It usually attacks the nervous system, causing paralysis, muscular atrophy, deformation and sometimes death, though only about one in 200 of those infected ever develop symptoms.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Tuesday that 10 more children had contracted polio in Indonesia, bringing the number affected by the outbreak to 65.
"Ten new polio cases were confirmed in Indonesia .... The cases are from Western Java and Banten provinces.
"Circulation of the wild polio virus could be occurring in other provinces in Indonesia; however, this is unknown at the moment," the health organization said.
One case was reported last week in Demak district in Central Java, a hitherto unaffected province, which lies outside the area where a first round of immunizations was held a month ago, according to the United Nations health agency.
Genetic analysis of the virus here showed its origin was in west Africa. It is similar to that found in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and probably traveled through Sudan, the WHO said.
The Indonesian polio cases have been a setback for a United Nations program to eliminate the disease worldwide by the end of 2005.