TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Health Minister Nila Moeloek has called for the importance of diphtheria immunization amid rejections from community members. She said that the immunization program is beneficial and failure to conduct it will endanger more people. “I think they have to realize [its importance]. Don’t harm others,” Nila said yesterday in Jakarta.
Minister Nila underscores that the immunization program, using vaccines which content are widely debated by the anti-vaccine society, is more beneficial than harmful. She added that the program is aimed at fulfilling children’s right to be healthy.
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The state of emergency on diphtheria has been declared in 20 provinces due to immunity gap in the population. “The situation happened because there are people who do not get immunization or their immunization status is incomplete so that the immune system against diphtheria bacterium infection is not formed, leaving them prone to diphtheria,” Nila said.
Some 593 cases of diphtheria were reported from January to November, killing 32 people in 95 districts in 20 provinces across Indonesia. “Even though diphtheria spreads easily, is dangerous and can cause death, it can be prevented through immunization,” the Minister said.
The Indonesian Pediatric Society chairman Aman Bhakti Pulungan said that, ideally, 90 percent of children in a region receive diphtheria vaccination. Those children can, therefore, protect the five percent who are not infected by diphtheria. “There’s a regulation on immunization. If people who refuse to get vaccinated, they better get out of the country.
ANTARA