JAKARTA - In the midst of the proliferation of information on social media, not a few parents are affected by anti-vaccine narratives. Various concerns, ranging from side effects to unproven issues, often make some people hesitate to give their children immunizations.
In fact, this perception often arises due to a lack of complete understanding of the benefits and how vaccines work.
The Chairman of the Indonesian Association of Epidemiologists (PAEI) Lampung, Ismen Mukhtar, said that to prevent vaccine refusal in children, it is necessary to increase education related to the benefits of vaccines for health.
"Indeed, with this very rapid technological development, anti-vaccine narratives or anti-vaccine movements are widely found on social media. And this is actually one of the threats to health, because it raises doubts about vaccines," he explained.
He explained that the prevalence of inaccurate information can trigger public doubts about the vaccination program. Therefore, wider and sustainable education is needed.
According to him, there are many anti-vaccine narratives that are actually not appropriate, such as associating fever or convulsions after immunization as a dangerous impact of the vaccine.
"Sometimes this anti-vaccine narrative is packaged with a number of events, such as fever in children after vaccination, this is actually just the effect of the vaccine and the body starts to act," he said.
He added that some cases such as seizures are not always caused by vaccines, but can occur due to pre-existing infections that have not been detected.
"Education on things like this needs to be expanded and strengthened by the government and related parties to the community," he explained.
Furthermore, Ismen emphasized that clear and easy-to-understand information delivery is very important to reduce public doubts.
"The role of various parties in explaining this to the public is important. If there are parents who refuse vaccination for their children, they must be given an explanation that their children can be healthy because they are saved by children who have received a complete vaccination,"
He also emphasized the importance of vaccination in forming Herd immunity, which serves to protect individuals who have not received immunizations.
"Herd immunity or group immunity occurs when many individuals in a group are immune to exposure to the virus, so vulnerable individuals are protected,"
Therefore, he appealed to the public to be more selective in receiving information related to vaccination and not easily influenced by misleading narratives.
"Don't wait for your child to get sick before you realize the importance of vaccination, but if you can before getting sick, take your child to get vaccinated. Because the benefits of this vaccine are very good for maintaining your child's health," he said.
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