JakartaPost-Jan 26, 2023
Indonesia saw 32 times more measles cases in 2022 than the year before, amid a slump in routine pediatric immunizations blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic. The Health Ministry reported on Friday that 3,341 cases of measles were confirmed last year. They were found in 223 regencies and cities in 31 of the country’s 34 provinces. Last year, more than a dozen cities and regencies, mostly located in Sumatra, declared “extraordinary health occurrences” (KLB) in response to measles outbreaks. Authorities attributed the spike to the fact that many children had missed out routine childhood vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic. “At the start of the pandemic, [the government promoted a] slogan of ‘stay at home’, resulting in [parents] avoiding taking children for immunizations,” Health Ministry director for immunization Yosephine Prima said at a press briefing on Friday. “Then we had the Delta [variant-fueled] wave of cases in 2021, which made people even more hesitant to leave their homes.” Nearly 60 percent of children infected with measles last year had not had a single dose of vaccine against the disease, and 12 percent of had had at least one dose. Health authorities could not ascertain the immunization status of the remaining share, according to Yosephine. But Yosephine said health authorities were more worried about the complications that could result from the disease, particularly among children with pre-existing health conditions. “If a child with poor nutrition [gets measles], it will usually be accompanied by severe complications, including diarrhea, pneumonia, inflammation of the brain, or even an eye infection, which can lead to blindness,” she said. As part of the national strategy to stamp out measles in 2023, Yosephine said the government had instructed local health agencies to increase health monitoring. In addition, the Health Ministry had enlisted the help of the Home Ministry; the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry; and the Religious Affairs Ministry in an initiative to bring the government’s pediatric immunization program to all elementary schools in the nation. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2023/01/26/ri-measles-cases-skyrocket-amid-pediatric-vaccination-lag.html.
