JAKARTA - The Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI) asks all parents not to neglect giving vaccines for other diseases in children other than the vaccine for COVID-19.
"There are cases of tetanus and diphtheria in several areas. This means that we shouldn't get excited about discussing PTM and the COVID-19 vaccine, and then forget about routine vaccinations for children," explained IDAI Chairman Piprim Basarah Yanuarso during an online event. January.
Piprim said that apart from the increasing trend of positive cases of COVID-19 in a number of provinces, several diseases such as tetanus and diphtheria were also occurring in many Indonesian provinces.
Based on reports during guard time, he explained, there were children who had seizures due to tetanus. This is due to the presence of parents who have never given the DPT vaccine to their children at the puskesmas.
According to Piprim, although the current COVID-19 vaccine is important to give to children because learning activities in schools have started, other basic immunizations are no less important because the fatalities that can be prevented through vaccination are higher than vaccines for COVID-19.
Seeing the importance of vaccination for diseases other than COVID-19, he asked all parents to diligently check the immunization schedule and come to the puskesmas, so that the nation's sons and daughters can grow up healthily and avoid various diseases.
"If I may say, he is more important than the COVID-19 vaccination. Because the fatality of the diseases that can be prevented by vaccination, is higher, such as diphtheria. If we look at it, it can be calculated as 10 percent fatality," he said.
The head of the IDAI COVID-19 Task Force, Yogi Prawira, also asked all parties to learn and not to forget the lessons in mid-2021 where low vaccinations caused many people to die.
In this case, Yogi emphasized to all parents not to delay giving the COVID-19 vaccine to their children by not choosing the available vaccine brand.
This must be done immediately considering the local transmission of the Omicron variant which has now been found and anticipating the child not to be infected or have to enter the ICU to be treated in a serious condition.
The same is true for vaccinations for other diseases. In order to prevent the increasing number of cases in children who come to the hospital due to COVID-19 or other diseases, he asked all parents not to ignore any of the stages in the health protocol.
He hopes that parents can learn from conditions in other countries such as the United States, Britain, South Africa and India and not wait for positive cases to increase in Indonesia so that they will only allow their children to be vaccinated.
"We still have to be careful, don't just believe in hoaxes. There is not enough evidence to state this is mild and in fact the percentage of children who are treated and affected by this variant is in fact a larger proportion than before," said Yogi.
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