Ministry Of Health: 2022 BIAN Pursue Immunization Left Behind During Pandemic

ILLUSTRATION BETWEEN

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) stated that the National Child Immunization Month (BIAN) in 2022 has a target of pursuing basic immunization coverage for children who are left behind during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"After COVID-19 begins to subside, we will start pursuing vaccines for children, namely basic and mandatory vaccines for children," Ministry of Health spokesman Mohammad Syahril said in a Health Broadcast reported by ANTARA, Monday, August 8.

According to Syahril, the COVID-19 pandemic that is endemic throughout the world, including Indonesia, has greatly reduced the coverage of basic immunization for the nation's children.

Because the pandemic has delayed the government's performance in distributing vaccines to the public, due to restrictions in the form of social distancing and staying away from crowds. Based on data from the Ministry of Health on its official website, there are more than 1.7 million babies in Indonesia who have not received basic immunization during the 2019-2021 period.

With the holding of the 2022 BIAN, it is hoped that it will be able to achieve the child's basic immunization target that it has set. BIAN itself is being carried out by being divided into two stages. Phase I was carried out in May, and focused on outside Java Island, and phase II in August, services focused on Java-Bali.

In basic immunization, Syahril explained that the government is pursuing vaccine coverage such as measles, rubella, which targets the age of nine to 59 months and immunization for children aged 12 to 59 months who are incomplete, such as OPV, IPV, and DPT-HB-Hib immunizations.

Syahril said that Bali and DI Yogyakarta did not carry out additional immunizations because the coverage had exceeded the target. Meanwhile, outside Java-Bali, immunization coverage has reached around 70 percent.

"Beyond that, it's close to around 70 percent of those who have carried out catch-up and additional immunizations," he said.

Syahril also said that BIAN 2022 was used as a momentum to maximize the development of a healthy generation of the nation, while protecting the nation's children from various kinds of dangerous diseases after the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This is an effort for all of us to protect our nation's children from diseases that can actually be prevented by immunization," he said.