Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Health reported that as of September 2023, four provinces reached the target of 75-percent coverage for the complete basic immunization program for babies up to 11 months of age.

The four provinces are Jakarta, Banten, South Sulawesi, and Central Java.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin conveyed the report at the Working Meeting of Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR) monitored online here on Tuesday.

"Basically, we have three routine immunizations, complete basic immunization, school children immunization month, and (immunization for) women of childbearing age," he remarked.

Of the four provinces, Jakarta has the highest coverage, reaching 93.4 percent, followed by Banten, with 85.6 percent; South Sulawesi, 82.2 percent; and Central Java, 76.5 percent.

Meanwhile, provinces, with the lowest coverage of complete basic immunization, are Papua Pegunungan, with 8.9 percent; Central Papua, 23.6 percent; Aceh, 29.8 percent; Southwest Papua, 31.3 percent; and West Papua, 32.4 percent.

The complete basic immunization program includes hepatitis B vaccination, bacillus calmette-guerin (BCG) vaccination, bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) vaccination, injection-based polio vaccination, measles-rubella vaccination, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) vaccination, and rotavirus vaccination.

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Furthermore, it includes the Japanese encephalitis vaccination, tetanus-diphtheria (TD) vaccination, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, and DPT-HB-Hib vaccination.

DPT-HB-Hib vaccination is given to prevent six diseases: diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B, pneumonia, and meningitis.

According to Sadikin, HPV, rotavirus, and PCV vaccinations are the newest inoculations to be added to the program.

HPV vaccine is administered to prevent papillomavirus infection, which is the main cause of cervical cancer, while the rotavirus vaccine is given to prevent diarrhea in babies and children.

Meanwhile, PCV is given to prevent pneumococcal bacterial infections that cause pneumonia and meningitis.

Sadikin remarked that the vaccine currently with the highest demand in the program is HPV vaccination owing to the high cost provided by private parties.

He noted that budget for the immunization program is sourced from the state budget (APBN), special allocation funds from the regional budget (APBD), and loans from international institutions.

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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Raka Adji
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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