Thousands miss out on vaccination

Thousands miss out on vaccination

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Remoteness and fears about the safety of the polio vaccine have
resulted in some 400,000 under-fives in West Java still not been
vaccinated seven days after a massive polio vaccination drive
across the country started on Aug. 30.

West Java Health Agency director Yudi Prayuda said that many
children living in remote areas with poor access, such as Cidaun
and Cianjur, had yet to be vaccinated.

"... many parents are also refusing to let their children be
vaccinated," he said after a meeting with members of the West
Java legislative council on Tuesday.

According to local health agency figures, 91 percent of the
targeted 4.5 million under-fives in the province had been
vaccinated as part of a nationwide drive to vaccinate the
country's 24 million children. The second round of the drive is
scheduled for Sept. 27.

The waterborne polio virus reemerged here after an absence
spanning nearly a decade, and has infected 226 children since
March this year.

Right after the first cases in western Java were reported, two
UN-supported vaccination rounds were carried out in May and June,
initially targeting 6.5 million children.

However, unlike the first round, which was hailed as a
success, the second round was dogged by rumors that three
children had died from taking the vaccine, and so only 5.5
million children turned up the second time around.

Those three deaths were later attributed to other causes, but
parents and health workers remained nervous.

Yudi said that in the latest polio vaccination drive, medical
workers found it difficult to counter people's fears over the
safety of the polio vaccine.

Even an edict issued by the Indonesian Ulemas Council saying
that the vaccine is halal (permitted for Muslims), has done
little to diminish people's fears, he added.

He said the health agency had conducted an extensive campaign
prior to the vaccination drive and even drafted in eight experts
to assure people of the need to vaccinate their children.

"Still, it's hard as health workers cannot force parents to
have their children vaccinated. It's their right to refuse," Yudi
said.