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n an effort to curb the high number of infant deaths caused by pneumonia, the Health Ministry is kicking off an immunization program with the pneumococcal vaccine (PCV).

Two regencies of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), namely West Lombok and East Lombok, have been chosen for the first phase of the project.

According to ministry officials, NTB is one of the provinces of the archipelago with the highest number of infant deaths caused by pneumonia.

“The program will begin [on Tuesday]. It will be a basic vaccine immunization. Next year, we’ll extend the program to all cities and regencies of NTB. Further ahead, it will be implemented at the national level,” Jane Soepardi, the director of surveillance and health quarantine at the ministry’s Prevention and Disease Control Directorate General, said at the NTB provincial administration office on Monday.

The three-year program is set to require Rp 34.5 billion (US$2.5 million) in state budget funds to procure the PCV vaccine and another Rp 1 billion to cover operational costs. The program is also supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the New York-based Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI).

Jane said the PCV vaccine to be used was of the Prevnar brand produced by United States drug giant Pfizer Inc.

The vaccine, she said, had passed tests by the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) and received a halal certificate from the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA) as well as a recommendation from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

The number of infants dying from pneumonia in Indonesia has increased by around 15 percent per annum in recent years. Indonesia is among the top ten countries with the highest infant mortality rate caused by the disease.

WHO data show that at least two infants in the world die every minute from pneumonia.

In West Lombok, 25,894 infants between the age of 2 months and 15 months are to be vaccinated. Meanwhile, in East Lombok, the program targets 14,792 infants.

NTB Health Agency head Nurhandini Eka Dewi said residents could receive the immunization at community-based health care centers (Posyandu), community health centers (Puskesmas) or hospitals for free.

“People only need to go with their infants to the nearest healthcare center to get the immunization,” Nurhandini said.

She also explained that pneumonia was the second-biggest cause of infant death in the region after diarrhea. Five percent of infants dying of pneumonia were babies.

Nurhandini cited data based on research conducted in the past two years showing that 50 percent of healthy babies and infants in the region contracted Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria, or pneumococcus, which causes the pneumonia disease.

“That means that the immunization they received was not enough to protect them from the disease. They can be affected by the disease at any time,” Nurhandini said.

In 2013, the government had tried to add the Diphtheria Pertusis Tetanus-Hepatitis B-Hemophilus Influenza (DPT-HB-Hib) vaccine to the national immunization program.

“But then it turned out that not all bacteria and viruses causing pneumonia could be prevented by the Hib vaccine. Therefore, we need this PCV,” Indonesia Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI) head Sri Rejeki said.

She said pneumonia had clinical symptoms similar to influenza, causing people to pay little attention.