Prevent Cervical Cancer, Ministry Of Health Requires Vaccination For Grade 5 And 6 Elementary School Students

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health said the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program to prevent cervical cancer in Indonesia targets female students in grades 5 and 6 of elementary schools.

"HPV is given to students in grades 5 and 6 of elementary school and is given twice," said the Acting Director of Immunization Management at the Ministry of Health, Prima Yosephine, a virtual World Immunization Week 2022 Media Seminar which was followed via Zoom application in Jakarta, Monday 18 April.

Prima said the provision of the HPV vaccine took place simultaneously with the School Children's Immunization Month (BIAS) program which is routinely held in August and November every year.

She said HPV vaccination had started in two provinces and five districts/cities in Indonesia since 2021 and was expanded to three provinces and five districts/cities this year. The plan is for cervical cancer vaccination to apply nationally in 2023-2024.

To prepare for this, said Prima, the Ministry of Health facilitates training for HPV vaccination in stages from the health office to the Puskesmas in each area.

"For DKI and Bali, training has been carried out. This year and next year we will develop it in all regencies/cities, preceded by health workers," she said, quoted by Antara.

In addition to training their skills as vaccinators, said Prima, the training participants were also taught about efforts to prevent hoaxes related to HPV.

"People actually quite accept that cervical cancer is a terrible disease so the acceptance is quite good. Even though it doesn't close itself, there are still hoaxes," she said.

One of the hoaxes related to the HPV vaccine is the side effect that can trigger infertility. "We have provided guidelines regarding this hoax," she said.

Previously, the Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that the HPV vaccination was an additional mandatory vaccine in Indonesia in the cancer prevention program.

"We will increase our mandatory vaccines from 11 antigens to 14, we will add vaccines for HPV, PCV and Rotavirus, especially because cancer deaths are mostly common for Indonesian women because cervical cancer is the same as breast cancer, there is a vaccine for the cervix," said the Minister of Health at the Meeting of Indonesian Health Diaspora America & Europe Region.