Safety fears hamper polio vaccination

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Tangerang/Bogor

Concern was etched on the faces of health workers at a vaccination post in Pondok Ranji, Ciputat, Tangerang when only 28 children showed up by 11 a.m., four hours after it opened.

And in a desperate move to persuade parents to bring their children under five to the post, the workers resorted to a "white lie" -- announcing through a loud speaker that celebrities from the capital Jakarta had come to the village.

The trick didn't work well, with only a handful of parents showing up.

But even the few parents who came to the post did not want their children vaccinated.

"I am afraid to let my son receive the vaccine now. My son developed a high temperature for two days after receiving the vaccine last month, forcing me to rush him to the doctor for treatment," said Rita, a resident of Pondok Ranji, told The Jakarta Post.

Siti Khodijah, a resident of Karet in South Jakarta, came to a nearby post, asking health volunteers not to give the polio vaccine to her 5-year-old grandchild, Dela Aprilita, arguing that she was ill with influenza.

"I'm worried that my granddaughter will get weak or sick like the children I saw on TV," said Khodijah, referring to news reports suggesting that some children had fallen seriously ill and died following the first polio vaccination last May 31.

Although the Ministry of Health has repeatedly said that the sicknesses and deaths had nothing to do with the vaccinations, the public at large have increasingly questioned the safety of polio vaccine used in the campaign.

Close to one million children under five were due to receive the vaccination in a program officially launched by First Lady Kristiani Herawati Yudhoyono on Tuesday. However, judging by parents' lack of enthusiasm, the number of children receiving the vaccine on Tuesday would be much lower than expected.

Some parents came to the posts only to inform health workers that they did not want their children vaccinated.

"There are 23 children under five who have not been vaccinated for polio," Masri Yuningsih, coordinator of a post in Kuningan, South Jakarta, told The Post after conducting a door-to-door check looking for children under five.

"I don't want my child to die as happened to children I saw on TV news," Yuningsih quoted parents as saying Tuesday.

More than 200 parents in Megamendung and Gunung Putri districts in Bogor declined to bring out their children.

Jakarta Health Agency head Abdul Chalik Masulili acknowledged Tuesday that the number of children receiving the vaccine in the second round would likely be lower than the 923,000 in the first round.

"We call on parents to come to community health centers and let their children be vaccinated or allow health workers to give the vaccine in their homes when they do door-to-door checks," Masulili said.

Masulili said that his agency was going to spend a week carrying out the door-to-door checks.