The Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture emphasized the importance of improving vaccination coverage to halt the spread of the polio virus.

Low vaccination coverage can increase the risk of spreading dangerous diseases. Moreover, this virus can trigger permanent disability, especially in unvaccinated children, the ministry’s official, Agus Suprapto, told ANTARA here, Wednesday.

To this end, the government continues to improve the coverage for basic inoculation, including polio vaccination, he remarked.

“This is important, especially since a single polio case was found in Aceh in November 2022,” he highlighted.

“This certainly has to be a collective consideration, specifically for parents, to ensure that their children have their rights to receive complete basic immunization fulfilled,” he remarked.

The government will improve the dissemination of information and education on the importance of basic immunization while also intensifying the implementation of the basic immunization program to improve its coverage, Suprapto stated.

Meanwhile, Disease Prevention and Handling Director General at the Health Ministry Maxi Rein Rondonuwu noted that the provision of polio immunization in Indonesia currently utilizes the BOPV or bivalent oral polio vaccine.

This vaccine, created to prevent type 1 and 2 polio virus, is orally given four times every four months.

Vaccine provision is combined with the Inactive Polio Vaccine (IPV) through injection. Booster will also be administered to infants at the age of nine months in conjunction with provision of the rubella vaccine.

However, the coverage for OPV4 and IPV vaccination is low. In 2020, the coverage for OPV4 stood at 86.8 percent, while for IPV, it had reached 37.7 percent.

Meanwhile, in 2021, the percentage of OPV4 coverage declined to 80.2 percent and 66.2 percent for IPV. Thus, the government strives to achieve the target for the children’s immunization program.

Source: Antara News