Ministry Faces Difficulty Campaigning MR Vaccine Outside Java
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Kamis, 1 Januari 1970 07:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Makassar - The Ministry of Health faces difficulty in conducting the campaign of immunization for measles and rubella, or the MR vaccine stage II, outside of the Java Island. It was deemed difficult because the geography and access to the locations require a huge amount of resources.
“It challenges us all, imagine, from Sumatra, Aceh to Papua,” said Health Minister Nila Farid Moeloek during a visit in Makassar, Wednesday, August 1.
Nila said the vaccination in the second stage reaches remote areas. So she targeted to only immunize 32 million children from 28 provinces in Indonesia. Compared to last year that was only in Java, the number decreased because of the number of children immunized was 35 million.
“In Makassar, we can still have access to reach the remote areas, but in Papua, we have to work and think harder, on the transportation route and how to carry the vaccines safely,” said Nila.
Even so, she claimed that immunization should still be done because this is the most important thing. Because the disease has spread to Indonesia, so if it infects, it can lead to death.
“Rubella causes abnormalities that cannot be treated. For example, if the child’s body temperature is hot, it should be given the febrifuge, but it cannot kill the virus that has entered the body,” she said.
Nila said Indonesia is committed to eliminating measles and controlling rubella with immunization campaign of MR vaccine. It is also to break the chain of transmission of disease.
She also claimed that the immunization was not rejected by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) because there was already a fatwa on paragraph 4 of 2016 concerning the immunization. “We use this, so preventing and treating is permissible,” she added.
DIDIT HARIYADI