A

s the World Health Organization (WHO) failed last week to make a consensus on the proposal to adopt a new method of polio prevention, oral vaccination remains to be the backbone of polio-eradication programs in developing countries, including Indonesia.

A plan to switch from the current Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) to the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) sparked a hot debate during the 65th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland, from May 21 to 26.

In the plenary meeting, most countries rejected the IPV proposition in the WHA’s poliomyelitis resolution as it might increase health care costs in developing countries.

Acting Health Minister Ali Ghufron Mukti said on Thursday that IPV would a create a heavier financial burden, especially for developing countries, as the polio injections were 50 times more expensive than oral vaccines.

“Imposing requirements for countries to replace OPV in their polio eradication program with an injecting vaccine, IPV, will only increase healthcare costs. You can imagine how much money we would have to spend if we had to replace the oral vaccine with the injecting one, which is much more expensive,” he told a press briefing on the results of the 65th WHA.

Citing Health Ministry data, Ghufron said that the oral vaccine was effective as there had been no new polio cases found in the last five years.

“This shows that the oral vaccine remains safe and effective in combating polio,” he said.

Besides, replacing oral vaccines would only deal a severe blow to local vaccine manufactuer PT Bio Farma. One of the major players in the region, the state-owned company exports various locally-produced vaccines, including one for polio, to 118 countries around the world.

“Switching oral polio vaccines to the injecting one will cause severe financial losses to our vaccine industry,” Ghufron said.

Only few countries are using injecting polio vaccines. Most of them are developed countries.

The ministry’s international cooperations cheif, Niniek K Naryati, said that during the assembly, Indonesia worked with other countries to scrutinize the interests of developed countries.

“During the meeting, we suspected some resolutions might be adopted that would place heavier burdens on developing countries, including the resolution on poliomyelitis. Thus, we tried hard to not adopt the IPV clauses in the resolution,” Niniek said.

After a string of debate, countries ultimately agreed on a resolution that did not include the IPV clause.

Although no new polio cases have been recorded in the last five years, polio still poses a threat to Indonesian children, according to the Health Ministry’s director general for disease control and environmental health, Tjandra Yoga Aditama.

Despite the success in eradicating polio, the country still faces a threat from abroad, especially from India, which still records new polio cases each year. Some countries outside the region even reported incidences of wild polio virus infections.

Some good news, however, emerged from the meeting, including a report saying that India had recorded no new polio cases during the last 18 months.

“If India can be free from new polio cases in three years uninterruptedly, we can soon declare our country as free from polio,” Tjandra said.

Polio, the leading infectious viral disease among children, can cause permanent paralysis to body organs and even death. It spreads through virus-contaminated water or food.

Since 1956, Indonesia has been carrying out vaccination programs to combat seven diseases including tuberculosis (TBC), polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), measles and Hepatitis B.

According to the Health Ministry, 75.3 percent of 75,990 villages have reached Universal Child Immunization (UCI) targets in 2010, increasing from 68.3 percent from 65,781 villages in 2008. It means at least 80 percent of children in villages have received basic vaccinations.

Still, many villages are still prone to the illnesses.

Despite a fact that oral vaccine was still proven as effective type of polio vaccine, Ghufron said Indonesia planned to develop polio injection vaccines.