Misinformation may be among the biggest threats to children’s health in Depok, West Java, as officials are lamenting the spread of fake news and hoax stories they believe are contributing to a decrease in the city’s children getting vaccinated.
The government recently made a previously scarce Measles Rubella (MR) vaccine available for free throughout the country in a vaccination drive from August to September. However, health officials in Depok noted that the city has among the lowest percentage of children being given the MR vaccine due to the spread of the usual fake news about the supposed negative effects of vaccines.
“Some of the issues include how (vaccines) contain traces of pork in its ingredients (pork being forbidden for consumption in Islam). There are also those who say that the side effect of vaccines is autism in children. Those things are not true,” said Depok Health Department Head Lies Karmawati, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
In West Java, the percentage of children who have been administered the MR vaccine is 92.46%, below the national average of 95%. Depok, Bekasi, West Bandung and Sukabumi regencies currently have the lowest percentages in the province.
Lies said that the Depok Health Department is going to focus their efforts on debunking the misinformation about vaccines in schools as the government has extended the MR vaccination drive for the foreseeable future.
Such misinformation is hardly new in Indonesia. A few months ago several religious schools in Yogyakarta, Central Java made headlines by rejecting the MR vaccine on grounds that they supposedly contains traces of pork. Some celebrities have also joined the anti-vaxxers movement in the country, with the children of one actress and self-proclaimed Islamic cleric suffering from measles as a result.
The public’s suspicions about vaccines wasn’t helped by the fact that there was also a huge fake vaccine scandal in Indonesia last year.
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