Health Ministry Partners with Religious Organisations to Expand Immunisation Coverage

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Director of Immunisation at the Ministry of Health, dr. Indri Yogyaswari, stated that her ministry is partnering with several religious communities as an effort to counter disinformation and misinformation surrounding immunisation and to increase national immunisation coverage.

“We recently utilised the measles outbreak moment. We engaged friends from NU, from Muhammadiyah, and from their women’s wings, Aisiyah and Fatayat NU,” Indri said in Jakarta on Friday.

She explained that the leaders of these organisations do not reject, and in fact support, the government’s immunisation efforts. Nevertheless, the ministry needs these religious figures to convey the message to their members.

Indri outlined that among the various barriers to expanding immunisation coverage, such as people feeling that immunisation is unimportant or has no benefit, the halal and haram status of vaccines, there are also perceptions related to one’s fate.

According to her, what must be emphasised is that immunisation does not 100 percent prevent disease. However, with vaccination, if one contracts the disease, its severity and death can be prevented, and the disease is not transmitted to others.

Previously, Deputy Minister of Health Dante Saksono Harbuwono gave three messages to the media on how they can contribute to increasing immunisation coverage in Indonesia, noting that immunisation is a highly effective health investment to prevent severity and death.

“We see that stories about smallpox, polio, and other diseases had very high mortality rates. And once they can be eradicated, they disappear from the face of the earth,” Dante said in Jakarta on Thursday, during World Immunisation Week 2026.

The Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Indonesia, Sujala Pant, stated that immunisation is the most effective and efficient health intervention, proven worldwide.

“For every dollar we invest in immunisation, there is a return of 52 dollars in low- and middle-income countries,” Sujala said.

She added that child vaccinations are estimated to prevent around 4 million deaths each year. According to her, World Immunisation Week 2026 is a time to strengthen commitments in building health systems to achieve Golden Indonesia 2045.