Succeeding BIAN, Parents Prompted to Complete Childhood Immunization Status

Immunization is one of the most effective ways to increase immunity and reduce the risk of death from disease. Around 800,000 children throughout Indonesia are at greater risk of contracting vaccine-preventable diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, measles, rubella, and polio.

Parents need to protect the children we love

By immunizing from the start, our bodies are introduced to fighting disease. That's why it is highly recommended routinely and completely at the age of the child.

However, because of Covid-19, routine immunization for children has decreased in scope. Based on the Health Ministry's latest data, basic immunization coverage had declined significantly since the start of the pandemic, from 84.2% in 2020 to 79.6% in 2021.

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The decrease in routine immunization coverage is due to various factors, including supply chain disruptions, restrictions on activities, and reduced availability of health workers. It led to a partial shutdown of vaccination services at the height of the pandemic. The Ministry and UNICEF survey conducted in 2020 also found that half of the parents and caregivers surveyed were reluctant to take their children to health facilities for fear of contracting Covid-19 or fear that there were no proper health protocols.

To make up for this lack of coverage, the government held the National Child Immunization Month (BIAN) in the context of world immunization week. Jakarta will also run the same campaign in August 2022, where they launched the BIAN program on Wednesday (8/3) at the Cengkareng Hospital.

On that occasion, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan prompted all residents to take responsibility for protecting children. Not only biological children but other children who may not have been immunized by completing their entire childhood immunization status.

"Parents need to protect the children we love. Don't let them interact with the environment without being protected by immunizations," he expressed, as quoted by Jakarta PPID's press release, Wednesday (8/3).

“All children, not just our children but nephews and others. Ask them if they have completed their immunization status. If not, invite them to immunize, and add measles and rubella. We often remind when we see there are children, look at them as our children," he continued.

Jakarta Health Agency (Dinkes) Head Dr. Widyastuti revealed that BIAN is an effort to prevent extraordinary events for diseases that can be prevented by immunization (KLB PD3I), due to a decrease in routine immunization coverage for children during the pandemic.

The targets were infants and toddlers aged 9 to 59 months with the immunization given being additional measles-rubella immunization regardless of immunization status, as well as catch-up immunizations for those who have not completed Oral Polio immunization 4 times, Injectable Polio 1 time, and DPT-Hb-Hib (Pentabio) 3 times.

"With the number of targets during August 2022 by 715,786 children or 35,789 targets per day, support from various sectors and professions is important. Hopefully, the PD3I outbreak in Jakarta can be prevented with the success of BIAN this year," she closed.