TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Ministry of Health reported that infants across Indonesia will receive rotavirus (RV) immunization ahead of Independence Day. The RV immunization is intended to prevent severe diarrhea.

Ministry of Health spokesperson, Muhammad Syahril, said that the immunization will be conducted on August 15, 2023, in South Sulawesi. "The target for RV immunization is at the latest for 2 months old infants who were born on May 16, 2023," he said on Monday, August 13, 2023.

Syahril said that the immunization will be administered in 3 doses with 4 weeks intervals between doses, with the oldest target being 6 months 29 days old infants. In 2022, the government conducted immunization gradually across 21 regencies/cities in 18 provinces, targeting 196,876 infants.

According to Syahril, the considerations in conducting the RV immunization are the high morbidity and mortality rate of diarrhea in infants and the adequacy of regional resources to conduct RV immunization.

The data provided by the Indonesian Rotavirus Surveillance Network presented that around 45% of infant hospitalization are caused by Rotavirus-induced chronic diarrhea. "Around 9.8% of mortality rate in infants under 12 months old and 4.55% of mortality rate in 12-59 months old infants in Indonesia is caused by diarrhea," Syahril added.

RV immunization will be conducted with cooperation from various parties. The vaccines will be funded by the State Budget while operational fees will be funded by the State Budget, Regional Budget, and other non-binding sources.

MARIA FRANSISCA LAHUR

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