Health Ministry urges parents to report adverse events following immunisation in children

“Please report it if signs of KIPI are visible.”

Jakarta (ANTARA) — The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) has asked parents or guardians of students to promptly report and have their child examined if they find signs of Adverse Events Following Immunisation (KIPI) after receiving immunisation through the School Child Immunisation Month (BIAS) programme.

Director of Immunisation at the Ministry of Health, Indri Yogyaswari, said the Ministry has provided two reporting channels for parents and guardians who find signs of KIPI in their children, such as fever or swelling at the injection site.

“Please report it if signs of KIPI are visible, especially serious ones, which must be reported within 24 hours,” said Indri during a webinar titled Media Briefing-BIAS: Tackling Measles and Diphtheria Outbreaks in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.

If parents find signs of KIPI in their child after participating in BIAS, she said they can immediately contact or visit the nearest community health centre (puskesmas).

“So if, for example, the child is vaccinated during the day, then that night they develop a fever, or especially if they experience shortness of breath or anything else that seems related to the immunisation, report it immediately to the nearest puskesmas,” said Indri.

Regarding the handling of KIPI, she said the Ministry has prepared the Regional KIPI Committee, or Komda KIPI, which operates at the provincial level to handle clusters of both non-serious and serious KIPI cases.

“Serious and non-serious KIPI clusters each have their own criteria. For serious KIPI, according to our service standards, it should be reported within 24 hours, even up to the National KIPI Committee (Komnas KIPI) at the central level. So please, whenever there is a case of KIPI, report it immediately,” said Indri.

The Ministry hopes that no student experiences KIPI, particularly in the serious category.

“Our hope is that there are none, although there may be some non-serious cases, which may naturally occur as an indicator that the immunisation is working,” she said.