Bedi, Nov. 29 (BNA): Children in school uniforms and toddlers lined up with their parents on Monday to receive a polio vaccination in the town square of Cigli on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, after four children were found infected with the highly contagious virus. The disease was declared eradicated in the country less than a decade ago.
The virus was first detected in October in a 7-year-old boy with partial paralysis in Aceh province near Sigli, and three more cases have since been detected, prompting a mass vaccination and information campaign, the Associated Press reports.
Officials say polio immunization rates in the conservative county lag far behind the rest of the country, with efforts hampered by widespread misinformation, the vaccine being incompatible with religious beliefs, among other things. The government has also prioritized COVID-19 vaccines since they became available.
The campaign, which began on Monday, aims to vaccinate some 1.2 million children in the province, said Maxi Ryan Rondunowo, director general of disease control and prevention at the health ministry.
“There is no cure for polio, the only treatment is prevention and the prevention tool is vaccination,” said Rondunowo, adding that the child is still able to walk, albeit with a limp.
With a population of about 275 million, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, and the largest Muslim-majority country.
MI