Diphtheria deaths in Indonesia spark immunization campaign
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia is immunizing millions of children and teenagers against diphtheria after the disease killed 38 people, mostly children, since January.
Children in school uniforms and toddlers clinging to their parents received shots at a high school in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, on the first day of the campaign Monday.
Diphtheria is a bacterial disease that can cause breathing difficulties, heart failure and paralysis. It was more or less eradicated in Indonesia in the 1990s but health officials say it has re-emerged in the past four years because immunization rates have dropped, partly reflecting fears about vaccines.
The first stage of the $112 million campaign aims to vaccinate 8 million people under the age of 19 in Jakarta and the populous provinces of Banten and West Java.