Govt plans mass bird flu vaccinations
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The government plans to vaccinate some 47 million people who have any connection with poultry in an attempt to prevent the possible mutation of the virus that causes Avian Influenza, however it is short of funds to carry out the program.
Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari said on Friday the government should vaccinate high-risk people with human influenza vaccine during the current flu endemic, which is expected to last until next month.
"The government does not have the money to vaccinate some 47 million high-risk people. It will cost some Rp 5 trillion (nearly US$500 million)," she told a seminar on bird flu here.
The World Health Organization has urged governments to act swiftly to control the spread of bird flu, warning that the world is in grave danger of a deadly pandemic triggered by the virus, which has killed nearly 70 people in Asia, eight of them in Indonesia.
Siti warned that a new strain of the H5N1 virus might develop should it come into contact with human influenza. Therefore, Siti called on physicians nationwide to be on full alert for the spread of the virus.
Presently 23 out of 33 provinces across the country have reported bird flu cases in poultry. Human deaths from the virus have so far occurred in Jakarta, Banten and West Java.
Siti believes there are more bird flu cases in humans in other parts of the country.
"Regional authorities may not aware of the presence of bird flu in their jurisdictions. Therefore, please be vigilant for patients who suffer severe pneumonia. Check whether there have been poultry deaths around them," she said.
WHO has confirmed 14 cases of bird flu infection in humans, of whom eight died. With a population of 220 million, Indonesia has declared an "extraordinary situation" against bird flu.
Health officials from 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met on Wednesday to discuss a joint fight against the bird flu outbreak.
Since bird flu first broke out in 1997, most human cases have been reported in Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and China.
A recent Citigroup investment research report said Indonesia would be the economy most sensitive to a bird flu outbreak followed by Vietnam and India with these economies depending on agriculture and their healthcare systems not well developed.
WHO has reported 132 laboratory-confirmed human cases of bird flu across Asia, including 68 deaths. But no human-to-human transmission has yet been found.
The H5N1 virus only infects humans who have had direct contact with infected poultry and their secretions.