Public gears up for polio vaccinations
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Over 700,000 babies across the capital will today be immunized against polio in the first-ever mass polio vaccination program in the city's history, relying heavily on the participation of local citizens in the nation's drive to stave off an outbreak of the disease.
More than 40,100 health workers, mostly local volunteers, will help give polio vaccine to babies at more than 8,000 vaccine posts across the capital, and will start operations in neighborhoods from 8 a.m. to 12 a.m., and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m..
Vaccination is mandatory for all children under five years old, even if they have previously been given the vaccine. Every baby receiving a vaccine will have a small mark made on their little finger nail to prove that they have already received the vaccine.
"Should we find babies not showing up for vaccination on Tuesday, then our officers will go door-to-door to ensure that no babies are missed. Door-to-door vaccinations will continue for a week," City Health Agency head Abdul Chalik Masulili told reporters at City Hall.
"We advise all parents to bring their babies to nearby health posts, even if their children had been recently immunized," Masulili said, saying multiple doses of polio vaccine would have no ill effect whatsoever.
He stressed that parents refusing to bring their babies for vaccination may face legal sanctions, with fines of up to Rp 1 million.
Ideally, a baby should be vaccinated for polio three times in their first year, and then once every year up to five years in order to properly protect them from the polio virus.
Besides Jakarta, which is only about 60 kilometers from Sukabumi, West Java where polio cases were first discovered earlier this year, the government will also carry out two rounds of vaccination programs in West Java and Banten provinces on May 31 and June 28.
The massive vaccination program involves mainly local residents to disseminate information concerning the implementation of the program.
"Local women grouped in PKK (family welfare movement) have distributed circulars door-to-door to residents informing them about the vaccination program," said Nur, 25, a resident of Bali Mester in Jatinegara, East Jakarta.
Posters and banners have been posted on walls and on electricity poles in the area.
"Announcements are also being made using loud speakers at mosques here," she said.
Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari said Monday that as of May 25, 14 babies had contracted the wild polio virus in Sukabumi and Bogor, both in West Java, and Lebak in Banten.
"We have to break the chain of transmission of the polio virus to save the lives of some 6.4 million babies in Banten, Jakarta and West Java," Siti said.
The vaccination programs in the three provinces will cost around Rp 38 billion.
Indonesia was completely free of polio for 10 years due to a government program that set up integrated health service posts (Posyandu) in almost every neighborhood in the country. At these posts, children received immunizations against various diseases, including polio.
However, since the economic collapse hit the nation in 1997, the health posts have drastically reduced their activities, leaving many children with no access to vaccinations.