Jakarta, IO – According to Ministry of Health data, 1.7 million Indonesian children have yet to be given complete basic immunization during the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the Ministry is now pushing to maximize immunization coverage by holding the National Child Immunization Month (NCIM) program across 27 provinces in Indonesia.
NCIM’s first stage started on 18 May 2022 in all of the provinces in the Islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and Papua. Initially, NCIM outside of Java-Bali was planned to end by 18 June 2022. However, low coverage means that the scheme is being extended until the end of July 2022. By 11 July 2022, coverage of the first stage, especially for smallpox-rubella vaccination, is only 43.5%.
“This is far below our target of at least 95%. Some of the obstacles we faced on the field include suboptimal promotion and insufficient intensity, causing incomplete coverage,” said Ministry of Health’s Acting Director of Immunization Management, dr. Prima Yosephine, MKM, in Jakarta, Tuesday (12/7/2022).
Total additional smallpox-rubella immunization target in Phase One NCIM is 27 million children. However, only 11.7 million children have been immunized. Of all the provinces outside of Java-Bali, the lowest achievement in the immunization drive are, in order: Aceh (9.2%), Papua (14.0%), and West Sumatra (28.7%). Meanwhile, the highest coverage provinces are Lampung (68.5%), South Sulawesi (60.3%), and East Kalimantan (57.1%).