Jakarta, IO – The World Health Assembly (WHA) has declared the fourth week of April as World Immunization Week (WIW). This year, WIW’s theme is “Let’s Protect Ourselves, Our Family, and Our People with Full Immunization Suite”.
As with many other countries, Indonesia suffered a significant drop in immunization coverage because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This means that more than 1 million children are not immunized or have incomplete immunization. According to Ministry of Health Records, the coverage of complete basic immunization has dropped from 84.2% in 2020 to 79.6% in 2021. The recent finding of polio cases in three regencies in Aceh, as well as in the Regency of Purwakarta, West Java, is caused by the recent reduced immunization coverage.
“Immunization has an important role in community health. Not only does it provide specific protection to the immunized individual, preventing the individual from getting sick, it also immunizes groups or even communities. However, this end is only possible when the immunization has a high and equal coverage. The Government is working to catch up with this gap by organizing the National Child Immunization Month. We expect parents to participate actively so that they achieve complete basic immunization status for their children,” declared dr. Yudhi Pramono, MARS, Ministry of Health’s General Secretary or the Prevention and Control of Diseases, in the World Immunization Week 2023 media meet on Monday (27/03/2023).
At the same event, Ministry of Health Directorate General of Disease Prevention and Control’s Acting Director of Immunization Management, dr. Prima Yosephine, MKM, declares that immunization is an effort to actively improve the body’s immunity towards a disease. Therefore, when the person is exposed to the disease, they will not get infected by it, or they will only suffer it lightly. Immunization in Indonesia is mandatory, referring to, among others, Child Protection Law No. 35 of 2014. This Law declares that “child protection” is “all activities that protects and guarantees the child and their rights to live, grow, develop, and participate optimally (in society) according to human dignity and value.”
Full-Risk Immunization for 30 Provinces
The complete basic immunization suite is divided into three stages: for newborn children 0-11 months old, for toddlers 12-24 months old, and children Elementary School age (6-12 years old). In the first stage, the child will be administered with immunization to prevent tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, hepatitis B, meningitis, pneumonia, and measles infections. In the next stage of the immunization, the child will be immunized to prevent diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B, pneumonia, meningitis, and measlesrubella. Next, immunization is administered to prevent measlesrubella, tetanus, diphtheria, pneumonia, meningitis, otitis (ear inflammation), severe diarrhea, and cervical cancer.