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.