Surabaya City Government has been moving quickly to handle polio and has successfully
carried out the immunization simultaneously on January 15, 2024. This sub-PIN Polio
activity was held in accordance to the Circular Letter from the Minister of Health of the
Republic of Indonesia Number IM.02.03/Menkes/1051/2023 dated 29 December 2023
concerning the Implementation of Sub-PIN in the context of Handling the Polio Outbreak
cVDPV2. The sub-PIN Polio activity will be carried out in 2 rounds. The first round is now
being conducted, specifically on January 15-21, 2024 while the second round will be
administered on February 19-25, 2024.
On the other hand, aspiring that the immunization was conducted as soon as possible
and met the target, the Mayor of Surabaya, Eri Cahyadi, ordered the polio immunization
was carried out within one day in several places all at once, precisely in integrated service post (posyandu), neighborhood health centers (puskesmas), early childhood education
centers (PAUD), kindergartens and elementary schools.
"The spread of the virus can have fatal consequences, cause paralysis and cannot be
cured. Therefore, it is imperative that the immunization be conducted within a day", said
the Mayor after giving a briefing at Graha Sawunggaling, Tuesday (9/1/2024).
The Head of Health Department, Nanik Sukristina, stated that polio immunization is
carried out by providing novel Oral Polio Vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to all children in
Surabaya with the age range of 0-7 years regardless of their previous immunization
status. The target is all children within that age range in the city, which is 329,616
children. This number is divided into two groups, specifically school and non-school
children. The number of non-school children is 122,947 children while the number of
school children reaches 62,70% of the targeted number, which is 206,669 children.
Cak Eri has found a success formula to meet the targeted number of children being
immunized. The Mayor asked Nanik to monitor the sub-PIN Polio activity by utilizing the
application. This application contains all the names and addresses of the infants and
children up to 7 years old in Surabaya. After the immunization, the names of the children
are marked to separate the children who have been immunized and those who have not.
By this application, the head of sub-district (Camat) and the head of urban village (Lurah)
can monitor which ones who have not been immunized in their respective areas. Hence,
they can immediately bring those children to the nearest neighborhood halls to receive
polio vaccine drops. This formula has been proven successful because within 3 days of
the implementation of sub-PIN Polio activity, the fulfilment rate has reached 94,02
percent.
Polio is a virus that is contagious and attacks the nervous system, causing permanent
paralysis of the muscles in the body's limbs. Polio virus can be transmitted through food
or drink contaminated by feces from children infected with the Polio virus. The Polio virus
incubation period is between 3-6 days and afterwards, paralysis occurs within 7-21 days.
Clinical symptoms that may arise include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in
the neck, as well as pain in the limbs. In addition to immunization, clean and healthy living behavior (PHBS) is a crucial key in preventing the spread of the polio virus throughout the society. This is due to the fact that the way the polio virus is transmitted is through feces or human waste.
In Surabaya, as ordered by the Mayor, the first round was administered simultaneously
on January 15, 2024 and the second round will be organized on February 15, 2024. The
Board of Regional Planning and Research Development (Bappedalitbang) Surabaya
has contributed actively during the first round of sub-PIN Polio activity by spreading the
awareness of the importance of polio immunization and participating directly in the
showground to monitor as well as to perform outreach in areas that have not yet reached
the 100 percent target.