Officers better prepared for polio vaccination

Damar Harsanto The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

After their experience in the first two rounds of the polio vaccination program, most officers seemed better prepared in the third round of vaccinations on Wednesday.

At Kampung Melayu Bus Terminal in East Jakarta, The Jakarta Post observed that health officers were taking the initiative to approach bus passengers carrying children to offer free drops of the vaccine, rather than waiting for parents to bring their children to the post, as in the earlier rounds.

"I was little surprised when the officers suddenly came up to me and asked whether I had brought my daughter for polio vaccination today. I was relieved as they only wanted to give the vaccine," said Nur, 26, a mother of a two-year-old girl, who resides in Balimester in Jatinegara.

"An announcement from the loudspeaker at a nearby mosque woke me up this morning ... The health workers had asked the mosque keeper to make an announcement about the vaccination program," said Linda, a resident of Cijantung, East Jakarta.

She said that she was reluctant to bring her two children for vaccination as the nearest post was two kilometers from her house.

"But, I am sure that they won't miss coming to my home for the vaccinations tomorrow because the coordinator is my next door neighbor," she said half-jokingly.

Health officers will make house-to-house visits for the following seven days to ensure that all children receive the vaccine.

The post coordinator in Pondok Pinang in South Jakarta, Dede Kartini, said that her team of health officers were very busy administering the vaccine today.

"It seems that the number of children receiving the oral polio vaccine is higher than in the previous rounds," she told the Post.

About 82 percent of the total 5,323 targeted children in the area were administered the vaccine on Wednesday, she added.

"We've intentionally skipped children belonging to several well-off playgroups here from the vaccination drive today as we have scheduled to reach them tomorrow," she said.

"We need a special approach to persuade children of high- ranking government officials in order that they allow their children to receive the vaccine," she added.

By 6 p.m., officials from the City Health Agency had not made a calculation of the number of children who had received the polio vaccine on Wednesday, saying they were still working on reports from the 8,028 health posts across the city.

Over 923,000 children under five were expected to receive the vaccine.

In the second round of the polio vaccination program in September, the administration gave polio vaccine to 96.23 percent of the total number of targeted children, higher than the 92.38 percent in the first round in August.

After a decade of being polio-free, Indonesia has experienced an outbreak of the disease. The first polio case in 10 years was discovered early in May in Sukabumi, West Java, and has since spread to other parts of the country.