Up to 13% of children miss out on vaccination
Up to 13% of children miss out on vaccination
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
With health workers ending their house-to-house checks for under
fives who missed the Aug. 30 polio vaccination on Thursday, the
Jakarta administration fears not all targeted children have been
vaccinated.
City Health Agency head Abdul Chalik Masulili doubted that the
health workers could reach the remaining 13 percent of the
923,000 children targeted in the polio vaccination drive.
"We have done our utmost with house-to-house checks. But we
only gave polio vaccine to 87 percent of the children targeted,"
he announced at City Hall.
In the first round of the vaccination drive on Aug. 30, the
administration vaccinated only 71 percent of targeted children.
The percentage is lower than in May and June drive, in which
92 percent of children under five were vaccinated.
He blamed pediatricians who advised parents not to take their
children to vaccination posts, arguing that those children had
already been vaccinated.
A child is protected against the polio virus if he/she takes
the oral vaccine at least four times over a certain period, or
more during an outbreak.
"Many pediatricians fail to stress a parent's role in
participating in the vaccination drive to rid the country of the
wild polio virus. What we are afraid of is that the wild polio
virus will stay in unvaccinated children and therefore we are
still in danger of a polio outbreak," he warned.
As of August, polio has claimed eight lives in the country,
mostly babies and toddlers. The first polio case was discovered
early in May in Sukabumi, West Jakarta, some 60 kilometers south
of Jakarta.
The city had been free of polio for more than a decade.
Despite the danger of a polio outbreak, many parents were
reluctant to have their children vaccinated for fear of the
adverse effects the vaccine may have on their children.
Doubt over the standard of the polio vaccine was high
following reports from the Legal Aid Institute for Health (LBH
Kesehatan) that some children had fallen seriously ill after
taking the first vaccination as a result of substandard polio
vaccines.
However, neither the health agency nor the Ministry of Health
entertained any link between the vaccine and the infants
illnesses, while assuring the safety of the vaccines.
"The oral polio vaccines are safe ... Children can take the
vaccines many times," said health agency spokeswoman Zelvyno.
Another round of vaccinations is scheduled to be held on Sept.
27.
"I urge parents not to be reluctant to bring their children
for vaccination. We cannot afford to discover another childhood
polio case in the future," emphasized Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso.
I-box
Children vaccinated in Jakarta
Area Number
East Jakarta 251,393 children
South Jakarta 176,860 children
West Jakarta 172,906 children
North Jakarta 131,212 children
Central Jakarta 79,896 children
Thousand Islands 2,434 children
Total 814,701 children
Source: City Health Agency