Worried about vaccination

Parents fear infection when taking children to be immunised

ALMOST one third of Indonesian parents and caregivers are doubtful about taking their children for routine immunisations during the Covid-19 pandemic for fear of contracting the coronavirus, a recent survey has found.

The survey, carried out by the Health Ministry in collaboration with Unicef, collected responses online from nearly 7,000 parents and caregivers of children under the age of 2 in 34 provinces from July 4 to July 13.

The survey found that only half of the respondents had taken their children for routine immunisations in the past two months.

“Prior to the pandemic, resistance to immunisations had already increased in Indonesia, and this was exacerbated by (immunisation) vaccine doubts during the pandemic,” Unicef said on Monday.

The survey also showed a “significant shift” in parents and caregivers’ behaviour in seeking immunisation services.

Prior to the pandemic, according to the survey, around 90% of Indonesian children had availed of immunisation services at community health facilities such as community health centers and integrated health services posts as well as village delivery facilities.

However, the majority of the respondents stated that they were now seeking immunisation in private clinics and hospitals due to the closure of government healthcare facilities in their communities.

Respondents expressed concern about the high cost of getting immunisation services at private healthcare facilities, services that would be free at public facilities.

The Health Ministry’s disease control and prevention director general, Achmad Yurianto, said public health facilities should remain open and safe during the pandemic, and called on parents not to delay giving immunisations to their children.

“If any health service facilities are temporarily closed, parents should ask local community health staff for information on the closest alternatives,” said Yurianto, who is also the former national Covid-19 spokesman.

The survey, however, also discovered high demand for immunisation, showing that some parents and caregivers had looked for alternative service points.

The survey also showed that parents who had studied the safe immunisation guidelines applied by health authorities were more willing to take their children for vaccinations.

Unicef argued that investment in safe immunisation and expanding the outreach of health services were important and urgent in order to ease parents’ doubts.