Over 500,000 kids get polio shots

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."