Diphtheria Strikes, Garut Local Government Holds Massive Vaccination Next Week

Liputan6.com, Garut – The Regional Government (Pemda) of Garut, West Java will soon start or kick off (start) diphtheria mass vaccination in Sukahurip Village, Pangatikan District, Monday (27/2/2023).

“We hope that some residents who have been exposed to diphtheria can recover,” said Garut Regional Secretary Nurdin Yana, after the Diphtheria Disease Outbreak Coordination Meeting, Thursday (23/2/2023).

According to him, efforts to deal with the diphtheria outbreak in one of the villages in the PangATIkan sub-district must be carried out thoroughly so that people’s concerns can be addressed immediately.

In a limited coordination meeting held by the Garut Regional Government on Thursday afternoon (23/2/2023), the government has instructed technical matters for handling diphtheria outbreaks according to the functions in each Regional Work Unit (SKPD).

“There is a BPBD there, of course according to its function I ask for it, then DPMD, then the Education Office, Social Service, and Diskominfo, I ask everyone to demolish this, so we can overcome diphtheria,” he said.

The Secretary of the Garut Health Office, doctor Leli Yuliani, conveyed the same thing. To suppress the massive spread of diphtheria outbreaks, the Garut Regional Government immediately carried out an outbreak response immunization (ORI) or mass immunization.

Not only that, the regional government is gradually handling it, starting to detect residents with diphtheria symptoms, then socializing it to all health facilities to be able to carry out early detection, to screening people who have close contact with people who are positive for diphtheria.

“We also make referrals for those who are positive with symptoms, provide prophylaxis for those who are in close contact, including carrying out immunizations for those under 15 years,” he explained.

In general, he said, the detection of diphtheria symptoms that occur in patients includes high fever, sore throat, and difficulty swallowing.

“And if it’s severe, it can cause infection of the heart muscle (or) myocarditis, because diphtheria excretes bacteria,” he said.

To increase body immunity, Leli asked the public to complete the immunization status of children with the diphtheria vaccine, including consumption of nutritious food, exercise and adequate rest.