"Because I see that there are several districts/cities that can approach the national target, but there are districts/cities that are very far from complete basic immunization," director general Maxi Rein Rondonuwu said in a statement released by the ministry on Thursday.
He informed that the decision to increase the number of vaccine types from 11 to 14 is in line with the ministry's main program, which is health transformation in access to primary service, which aims to strengthen preventive efforts in primary care.
The three additional vaccines, he said, are the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) for cancer, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) for pneumonia, and rotavirus vaccine (RV) for diarrhea.
As per the ministry's data, more than 103 million women aged 15 and above in Indonesia are at risk of developing cervical cancer.
In addition, around 36 thousand women are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year, and about 70 percent of them are diagnosed at an advanced stage.
The death rate due to cervical cancer is also relatively high, with 21 thousand deaths recorded in 2020.
Globocan data shows that in 2021, as many as 36,633 cases of cervical cancer were recorded in Indonesia, along with an increase in the mortality rate.
According to him, immunization is the cheapest preventive measure, therefore girls aged 11 and 12 need to be administered the HPV vaccine immediately.
"This HPV vaccine will be provided free of charge and is very important to protect girls from cervical cancer. The death rate from this cancer reaches 50 percent because they (patients) come too late," he said.
Pneumonia and diarrhea, he added, are two of the five leading causes of death in under-five children in Indonesia, and they can be prevented through PCV and rotavirus immunization.
In 2022, PCV immunization coverage was expanded nationally, with doses administered twice to children, once at 0–11 months and again at 12–24 months.
Meanwhile, rotavirus (RV) immunization needs to be provided thrice — at 2, 3, and 4 months — to provide high and uniform protection.
Initially, the immunization only covered 21 districts and cities of Indonesia. However, to accelerate efforts to reduce morbidity and mortality due to diarrhea, the ministry expanded the provision of RV immunization across Indonesia in 2023.
"The introduction of rotavirus immunization has been carried out since 2022, but we are launching and expanding it nationally," Rondonuwu said.
The ministry is also providing a second dose of the polio vaccine or IPV2 to strengthen protection against polio.
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Translator: Mecca Yumna Ning Prisie, Cindy Frishanti Octavia
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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