Over 500,000 kids get polio shots

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The City Health Agency has claimed that the first stage of the National Immunization Week (PIN) program in Jakarta went smoothly, with the number of toddlers being immunized against polio exceeding the original target.

The agency had only registered some 569,550 toddlers in the city to be immunized. But so far, some 756,636 toddlers have the received the polio vaccine.

"The agency could only register 569,550 toddlers as we were unable to count the number of children in several residential areas, especially upper-income areas such as Pondok Indah, Pluit and Kelapa Gading," head of the city's PIN center Dien Emawati told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

"It's because we don't have posyandu (neighborhood health center) officials to collect data on the children in those areas.

"Besides, parents in such areas usually take their toddlers to the hospital or pediatrician for immunization," she added.

The second round of the PIN program is slated for Oct. 9. Each toddler will be immunized twice.

Dien said the PIN center had collected data from all city-run puskesmas (public health centers), and all hospitals so as to ensured valid data on immunization coverage.

There were, however, reports saying that the project did not go as smoothly as planned, with some immunization posts reporting a shortage of polio vaccine and others an oversupply.

City Health Agency spokeswoman Evy Zelfino told the Post that these were isolated cases as the agency had prepared more vaccine than the estimated number of children to be immunized.

"We have plenty of extra vaccine ready at the agency and puskesmas. We have also deployed monitors to ascertain the exact needs of the posts.

"If there were any shortages, the monitors could easily get additional vaccines. A similar mechanism has also been put in place for PIN's second round," she added.

Evy played down that possibility that officials could have marked up the number of toddlers who were immunized.

Meanwhile, Dien said that there had been no polio cases reported in Indonesia recently, although the World Health Organization (WHO) had yet to declare Indonesia a polio-free country.

"We hope that we can eradicate polio by 2005, especially given that there have been no recent reports of polio cases," she said.

"Even a single case of polio in Indonesia could be described as an extraordinary case."

Contacted separately, the Society for the Care of Disabled Children (YPAC)'s Jakarta chapter spokeswoman, Susilowati, also confirmed that the country was almost polio free.

"It has been quite some time since we had our last polio patient. We believe that it (the disease) has long gone," she told the Post.

"But should a case arise, the victim should seek medical attention as soon as possible."