According to the ministry's acting director of immunization management Prima Yosephine the Outbreak Response Immunization (ORI) will start in Pidie next week and will be extended across Aceh province on December 5, 2022.
"This is a sub-PIN because the case is specific in Aceh. We must do it immediately to break the chain of polio transmission. We hope this effort will be successful," she said in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, on Friday.
The coverage of complete basic immunization in Aceh has been quite low in the past few years, she noted. This has also put children in Aceh at high risk of contracting diseases that can be prevented through immunization.
This has been proven by the discovery of cases of polio or withered paralysis among children in Mane sub-district, Pidie district, she said.
In fact, the poliovirus has also infected healthy children who have not completed their basic immunization. Thus, the implementation of Sub-PIN in Aceh is very important, she added.
"We hope that this activity will immediately stop the spread of the poliovirus. This virus has been circulating in the region, and we have found healthy children infected with polio as well," she added.
Data from the Health Ministry show that the immunization coverage per antigen in Aceh until October 2022 was quite low. The coverage for BCG vaccinations was around 48.90 percent, HB0 67.1 percent, polio 46.8 percent, IPV 18.8 percent, DPT-HB-Hib 3 39.3 percent, and CR 43.7 percent.
Furthermore, IDL coverage stood at 39.8 percent, DPT-HB-Hib 4 just 17.3 percent, and CR2 only 21.9 percent. The coverage of each antigen has yet to reach the target.
"Sub-PIN will depend on us. The coverage for success is at least 95 percent. Therefore, it needs support from other sectors. Our target is around 100 thousand children in Pidie," Yosephine informed.
Earlier, the Aceh Health Service recorded four cases of polio in Aceh’s s Mane sub-district, Pidie district. One of the four children is still undergoing therapy at the Zainoel Abidin Regional General Hospital in Banda Aceh.
The four children who were infected with the poliovirus did not complete their basic immunization. Therefore, they were at a very high risk of contracting the virus.
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Translator: Khalis Surry, Resinta S
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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