The campaign was launched following the discovery of 4 polio cases, one of which was paralytic, in Aceh in early November. It was the first time in four years that Indonesia had reported instances of the disease.

“I have asked the governor [of Aceh] to wrap up [the immunization program] before the end of the month, so that all children [in Aceh] can get their [polio vaccinations]. We do not want any more children in Aceh to be exposed to polio," Budi said at Monday's launch event in the province.

The minister said Aceh had among the lowest provincial child vaccination rates in the country. The Health Ministry, with aid from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), aims to vaccinate 95 percent of children younger than 12 years old in Aceh, or some 1.2 million children, in December.

The vaccination regimen includes four doses of oral polio vaccination (OPV) and one dose of injected polio vaccination (IPV), although all provinces will be required to administer two IPV doses starting next year.

“My message to all parents is to make sure that your children are fully vaccinated against polio […]. Why are there so many [required doses]? Because there are many virus types [...]. If [the vaccination series] is incomplete, [children] will still be at risk of contracting the virus,” he said.

Prior to the launch of the province-wide vaccination drive, local health authorities had focused their efforts on a regency-wide immunization program in Pidie, where the polio cases were discovered. That program was launched on Nov. 28.

Acting Aceh Governor Achmad Marzuki said 79 percent of children in the regency had been vaccinated as of Sunday.

Read also: Govt to step up immunization following Aceh polio discovery 

More provinces at risk

Aceh’s OPV and IPV coverage has been declining over the past four years, according to Health Ministry data, with no regency or city in the province reporting greater than 60 percent IPV coverage this year.

The low coverage in Aceh is part of a nationwide trend.

Despite minor improvements in vaccination coverage in recent years, more than 62 regencies and cities throughout the country still have four-dose OPV coverage of less than 60 percent, while 125 regencies and cities have IPV coverage of less than 60 percent, data from October shows.

“[Children] receive immunity to type 2 polio only from IPVs. With [the low] coverage, there are still a lot of areas at risk of type 2 polio,” the ministry’s acting director for immunization, Prima Yosephine, said on Nov. 29.

‘Extraordinary occurrence’

Health authorities previously declared an “extraordinary occurrence” (KLB) after a 7-year-old child tested positive for type 2 polio in Aceh. The child displayed symptoms of paralysis in the left leg and was thought to have had no prior polio immunizations.

Aside from the low vaccine coverage, authorities pointed to unsanitary conditions as a probable cause of the paralytic polio case after discovering that some residents of Pidie defecated directly into a river where children often played.

Health authorities then tested apparently healthy children under the age of 5 years old living in the vicinity to ascertain whether local transmission had occurred. Of the 19 children tested, three tested positive for polio, although none experienced paralysis.

While Indonesia was previously declared polio-free in 2014, authorities discovered a type 1 paralytic polio case in Papua province in 2018. The Aceh case was the first paralytic case discovered since then.

Popular

Policymakers to rethink single-day general election format

Authorities raises Halmahera volcano alert level to highest

Indosat showcasing Indonesia's Digital Literacy Initiative at the Global DTC Workshop