Govt seeks MUI's help in polio campaign

Govt seeks MUI's help in polio campaign

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The minister of health is working with the Indonesian Ulema
Council (MUI) to facilitate an effective polio vaccination
program across the country next month.

Launching the planned vaccination campaign with MUI ulema on
Monday, on the sidelines of a MUI national congress in Jakarta,
Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari said the clerics would
help the ministry by encouraging people to take their infants for
polio vaccines, because "that will keep the babies stay healthy".

"Our staffers will check the babies' condition before we give
them the vaccine. If the babies have a fever, or suffer other
illnesses, we will not vaccinate them," Siti said in response to
concerns that an infant could die after being vaccinated.

The deaths of four babies were recorded after the first day of
the government's polio vaccination drive on May 31, which was one
of the reasons for a low turnout in the second round of the
vaccination program in June.

The next nationwide polio vaccination drive will be held on
Aug. 30 and Sept. 27, targeting around 24.3 million infants. The
government has allocated Rp 230 billion (US$230 million) for the
campaign to cover 69,770.440 doses of polio vaccine, of which
49,770.440 were produced by health and research institution PT
Bio Farma in Bandung, West Java. Donors will cover the remaining
20,000 doses of vaccine.

MUI deputy chairman Umar Shihab said MUI clerics had certified
the vaccine as halal (allowed by Islamic law).

"All of vaccine stock is halal. Vaccine from donors is also
halal and therefore the public has nothing to worry about," he
said.

Arguments for and against the polio vaccine were rife
following a vaccine boycott led by Islamic hard-liners in several
Muslim countries in Africa, including Nigeria and Benin, last
year when they claimed the vaccination campaign was a plot to
sterilize or kill Muslims.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations
Children's Fund are jointly working on a strategy of ensuring
acceptance of the polio vaccine by getting top political leaders
to persuade ordinary people about the benefits of immunization.

For almost a decade, Indonesia was listed among countries
declared free of polio. But in April this year, several cases of
Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) were found in Sukabumi, Bogor,
Cianjur and Bekasi in West Java; Lebak, Serang and Tangerang in
Banten; Demak in Central Java and recently in Lampung.

As of July 17, the ministry recorded 291 Indonesian children
with AFP.

Aimed at preventing a widespread outbreak, the ministry held
polio vaccination drives in limited areas, which covered the
capital city of Jakarta, West Java and Banten provinces, on May
31 and June 28.