Life
July 05, 2005
Indonesia prepares for nationwide polio vaccination
The Indonesian government plans to expand its anti-polio drive to the national level following the successful vaccination program for 6.6 million children in three provinces, where 66 polio cases have been confirmed.
State-run pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma said Tuesday it has begun producing 70 million dosages of polio vaccine for the nationwide vaccination program.
Bio Farma President Marzuki Abdullah said he hoped the vaccination program would be implemented in stages due to limited time of production.
He proposed that the immunization program be carried in August in densely populated islands of Java and Sumatra and in December in other provinces.
"We have prepared if the government insists on the same dates for all provinces, but we must import around 40 percent of total vaccine needed," he told reporters here.
Bio Farma is Indonesia's sole vaccine producer.
Polio vaccination program was carried out in two rounds in the western Java provinces of Banten, West Java and Jakarta in May and June.
Source: Xinhua
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