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Vaccination to be mandatory for admission
Starting this year, the Jakarta administration will require children to receive five vaccinations in order to enroll in state elementary schools
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tarting this year, the Jakarta administration will require children to receive five vaccinations in order to enroll in state elementary schools.
Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama said the city administration would add the requirements starting this year.
'Vaccinations are important, not only for the children, but also for the city. Therefore, starting this year, we will require children to receive basic vaccinations before they enroll in state elementary schools,' Ahok told reporters at City Hall on Friday.
According to Health Ministry Regulation No. 42/2013 on immunization, the five vaccination packages are: Hepatitis B for newborn babies; Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG); Diphtheria Pertusis Tetanus-Hepatitis B (DPT-HB) or Diphtheria Pertusis Tetanus-Hepatitis B-Hemophilus Influenza (DPT-HB-Hib); polio; and measles.
All five packages are subsidized, so parents can get them for free at community health centers (puskesmas).
'These are actually mandatory vaccinations that children must receive at certain ages. But many parents focus on education and choose to ignore these vaccinations, although vaccinations are no less important than education,' Ahok said.
Health Agency head Koesmedi Priharto acknowledged there were many children in Jakarta who did not receive vaccinations due to a lack of knowledge from their parents.
There have also been recent movements against vaccinations for religious reasons, with some families opting for homeopathy as an alternative.
Koesmedi added that the agency would issue a 'vaccination certificate' at a district-level puskesmas to children who had received the five vaccinations. The certificate, he said, would include the child's name and parent's name, and would be signed by a puskesmas head.
'We are currently distributing the certificates to every district-level puskesmas,' he said.
Separately, Education Agency head Arie Budhiman said the agency was currently preparing to implement the additional requirement into the enrollment system.
'All parents who wish to enroll their children in a state elementary school must obtain the vaccination certificate at the puskesmas to prove their children had received the five basic vaccinations,' Arie said over the phone on Friday.
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'We are currently distributing the certificates to every district-level puskesmas.'
