TIME.CO, Jakarta – Ministry of Health Director-General for Disease Prevention and Control (P2P), Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, said his party will organize a mass polio vaccination in Pidie district, Aceh, following the establishment of a Extraordinary Event status o KLB Polio there. The mass vaccination will be held starting November 28, 2022.
“We will carry out an epidemic immune response and increase the coverage of routine immunization. We plan to start in Pidie starting November 28,” Maxi said in an online press conference in Jakarta on Saturday, November 19, 2022.
Maxi said the mass vaccination had to be completed in just one week. After that, the Ministry of Health will do the same in other urban districts of the province.
Polio vaccination in Aceh has decreased over the past 4 years
According to Maxi, the mass vaccination action was an effort to prevent the massive transmission of polio. He acknowledged that there had been a decrease in both oral (OPV) and injection (IPV) polio vaccination coverage in the Province Aceh in recent years.
“If we look at Aceh for 4 consecutive years of OPV (dose) 1-4, there has been a trend for more and more districts/cities to be red (rated), especially for IPV, almost all have no streets in Aceh,” Maxi said.
intensification of monitoring
In addition to rolling out vaccinations, the Ministry of Health will also step up monitoring in Aceh. This was done to identify the possibility of other patients.
“So in addition to preparing, we also do active surveillance of health facilities to see if there is anything that hasn’t been reported, children under 15 who are suffering from sudden acute flaccid paralysis,” Maxi said.
Previously the Ministry of Health had awarded the status of Extraordinary Incident or KLB Polio following the discovery of a case in Aceh. This status was determined because Indonesia previously received a Polio-free certificate from WHO’s World Health Organization in 2014.
Ministry of Health he said patients in Aceh were infected with polio due to river water contaminated with feces. The river is used for playing by children. Maxi also said that the polio patient in Aceh did not receive a full vaccination beforehand.
