TEMPO.CO, Bogor - Chairman of Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) of Bogor District, Dr. Yoeswar A. Darisan did not deny that fake vaccines had been used in a number of hospitals in Bogor.
According to him, local government-owned hospitals and all community health centers (puskesmas) in Bogor District are guaranteed to have real vaccines since they were procured through tenders. “As for private [health centers], however, we don’t deny that some hospitals have been using them,” he said on Tuesday, June 28, 2016.
IDI Bogor District has called on hospitals to stop the practice of using fake vaccines. “I urge them to provide vaccines from certified companies, even though they are more expensive,” he said.
He said that the vaccines being produced in large numbers by the suspects, who have been arrested by police, were not dangerous for children. Because the vaccines were only made of a combination of intravenous fluids and antibiotics.
However, children who had been getting vaccinated using the fake vaccines during immunization “has no immune response to polio, measles, etc.,” he said.
To those still in doubt, it would be better to revaccinate their children, he said. “To get revaccinate [their children] at puskesmas [community health centers] or RSUD [local government-owned hospitals], because the Health Ministry has guaranteed the that vaccines are real and free of charge,” he said.
M SIDIK PERMANA