Residents gear up for polio vaccinations
Residents gear 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.