REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANDUNG — Unpad health experts assessed the case measles in Indonesia which is high and designated as an extraordinary event (KLB) of measles by the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. At that time there was a decrease in measles immunization in children.
“Because the Covid-19 pandemic started early, now is the ‘harvest’ (measles),” said Head of Staff of the Division of Infection and Tropical Diseases of the Unpad Department of Pediatrics Dr. Djatnika Setiabudi as quoted from the Unpad website, Monday (23/1/2023) .
He said the increase in measles cases was partly influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a decrease in immunization coverage for children, thereby reducing herd immunity in the community.
Before the pandemic, Djatnika said, the spread of measles cases could be controlled. The case is relatively sporadic and not an epidemic or KLB.
He also suspected that the increase in measles cases was influenced by the large number of people who refused to be immunized against measles. Measles is known as an infectious disease and if you don’t have immunity you can be infected by 90 percent.
Those who have not been vaccinated are also susceptible to measles. In fact, the impact on those who have not been immunized is vulnerable to other diseases such as pneumonia, inflammation of the brain to malnutrition.
Djatnika said giving the measles vaccine was important to boost immunity again. The Ministry of Health itself has prepared measles immunization for children aged nine months, 18 months and first graders of elementary school.
“It’s never too late to be immunized, for those who haven’t been vaccinated, get vaccinated immediately,” he said
Previously, the Ministry of Health noted an increase in measles cases in Indonesia throughout 2022. A total of 3,341 infections were reported, this number jumped 32 times from the previous year, which was around 200 cases.
Director of Immunization Management of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia Prima Yosephine said that one of the reasons for the soaring cases of measles was due to the sharp decline in measles vaccination coverage in the last two years. It is known, the Covid-19 pandemic in the last two years has had a major influence on parents’ concerns about taking their children outside the home.
