The
government has blamed parents’ reluctance to get their children vaccinated for
the recent diphtheria outbreak in East Java, with many religious communities in
the province still questioning whether the anti-diphtheritic vaccine is halal,
or allowed according to Islam.
Edi Purwinarto, assistant for people’s welfare
affairs at the East Java provincial administration, said on Friday that local
communities living in some small areas in the province were still somewhat
reluctant to give their newborns a complete basic vaccination.
"Some parents resist getting their
children vaccinated due to a number of reasons. Some of them are just worried
that vaccination will hurt their children or cause a fever but in some areas
people worry that the vaccines are not halal," Edi told The Jakarta Post.
East Java Governor Soekarwo declared an
extraordinary situation (KLB) on Sunday for diphtheria in all parts of the
province. The provincial administration said that as of Oct. 14, diphtheria
incidents had reached 352 cases with 11 deaths, not 328 deaths as reported
earlier by several media outlets.
Diphtheria is a deadly upper respiratory-tract
illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, it can be prevented by
administering DPT vaccination to newborns.
Mass diphtheria vaccination is being carried
out in several outbreak regions, especially in 11 regencies and municipalities;
Bangkalan, Banyuwangi, Blitar, Gresik, Mojokerto, Pamekasan, Pasuruan, Sampang,
Sidoarjo, Sumenep and Surabaya. Together with religious leaders, Edi said, the
local government was working to change existing perceptions and attitudes
toward vaccines.
"It’s not easy to overcome parental
resistance to immunization since it is closely related to religious
perceptions. Therefore, we work with religious organizations to teach parents
about the importance of getting their children vaccinated," said Edi
mentioning Muslimat NU and Aisyiyah of Muhammadiyah as the government’s
counterparts in the dialog.
The local administration has allocated
additional funds of 8 billion rupiah (US$896,000) to combat the disease.
To cope with the disease, Health Minister
Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said the government would not only intensify the
routine immunization program but also allocate funds of about 13 billion rupiah
(US$1.47 million) to tackle the outbreak. The funds would be used both to buy
anti-diphtheritic serum (ADS) and medicines, as well as conducting
surveillance.
"With failures in delivering routine
vaccination programs, we may still have areas in which many children have
incomplete vaccinations or have never even been immunized. Such conditions will
place a heavier burden on public health," she told journalists.
Andi Muhadir, director of surveillance,
immunization and quarantine at the ministry, said that the government had
delivered vaccines and contact management to combat the diphtheria outbreak.
"We are providing erythromicyn to the
diphtheria victims and carrying out lab tests to identify carriers of the
disease to prevent them becoming sources of infection," he told the Post.
An expanded outbreak response would also be
held in East Java to combat the disease since it had spread to 34 regencies and
municipalities, he added.
Elly Burhaini Faizal
The Jakarta Post
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