Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – The outbreak of polio in Indonesia could spread to other countries in the region, but a plan to vaccinate 24 million children next week should halt its progress, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday.
The comments by WHO's polio eradication representative, David Heymann, came a day after another UN official warned a polio epidemic could hit Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, after the wet season starts in September.
Polio returned in May to Indonesia, which had been free of the water-borne disease since 1995. A 25-year old man who had the virus has died but officials are still investigating whether the crippling illness was the cause of death.
The outbreak first hit villages near the West Java city of Sukabumi and spread to adjacent provinces. The number of cases has risen to 225, with the latest – in the outer province of Lampung province on Sumatra island – prompting the vaccination drive.
"Indonesia is very concerned not only because of the fact (polio) is paralysing children here but it could spread internationally," Heymann told a news conference.
"This virus spreads very easily and there is no reason this would respect Indonesian borders," he added.
Polio attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis in hours. Children are most at risk.
Indonesia's government along with the WHO and the United Nations children's agency UNICEF plan to kick off the nationwide vaccination scheme on August 30, with the second round on September 27, involving some 750,000 vaccinators at 245,000 immunisation posts.
"If these two rounds reach every child targeted, that should stop the transmissions," Heymann said.
He said the vaccine was safe, following reports by local media of the death of three infants earlier this year after receiving polio vaccinations.
"The vaccine which is used here in Indonesia is the same vaccine that's been used throughout the world to vaccinate over 2 billion children, and this vaccine is one of the safest that is available," he said.
Two rounds of immunisations were carried out in late May and late June in West Java and Banten provinces and the capital Jakarta, reaching around six million children.
The global battle against polio has faced setbacks in the past two years since Nigeria's northern state of Kano banned immunisation out of fear it could cause sterility or spread HIV/AIDS. Vaccinations resumed after the 10-month ban.
But the virus spread across Africa, crossed the Red Sea into Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and reached Indonesia, infecting previously polio-free countries along the way.
"(Indonesia) is ultimately a victim of inadequate control of polio in Nigeria and this is not going to become another Nigeria... the world is rallying with Indonesia in making sure it is not becoming a source of virus spread internationally," Hamid S. Jafari, of the Atlanta, Georgia-based Centres For Disease Control and Prevention, told the same news conference.