A volunteer at a health center in Utan Kayu (photo ebove), East Jakarta, gives a child a pollio vaccine. National Immunization Week began Thursday, with officials hoping to give some 20 million children across the country pollio vaccine as well as vitamins.

During the immunization program, the children will also receive a Vitamin A supplement.

Some 3.5 million children living in isolated areas would also be immunized against measles.

The second round of the PIN program will be on Oct. 8.

Vice President Hamzah Haz officially inaugurated the program on Thursday at his official residence on Jl. Diponegoro. The U.S. Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce also appeared during the launch as the U.S. government is one of the donors of the program.

The government has 248,599 immunization posts with 5 million health workers, including 1,320 pediatricians, to serve 20.8 million children under five across the country.

The immunization program will cost some Rp 104 billion, of which some Rp 61 billion will come via grants from foreign donors such as WHO, UNICEF, USAID, Rotary International, Aus AID, the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and the Helen Keller Foundation.

The PIN centers are available at baby health centers (Posyandu), community health centers (Puskesmas), state-run and privately-run hospitals, health clinics and strategic places like bus and train stations, traditional markets, kindergartens and children's playgrounds.

Some non governmental organizations, especially neighborhood organizations (PKK), will help conduct the program especially in the areas of conflict like North Maluku and Aceh.

The North Maluku Health Governor Saleh Latuconsina was quoted by Antara as saying that the PIN program in the province should be successful because he did not want a polio outbreak in his province.

Some 156,000 toddlers from 616 villages in the province would receive the polio vaccines at 12 health centers and 2,463 PINcenters.

Separately, the Aceh Health Office head Cut Idawani said that some 7,553 PIN centers including traditional schools and airports, would serve 390,338 toddlers in the province. She said that the volunteers from the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) would also help with the program.

Most of the regions reported that their PIN program was expected to run smoothly, except for West Java's regency of Garut which requested another 200 bottles of polio vaccines at the last minute.

Indonesia conducted national polio immunization drives in 1995, 1996 and 1997 which reportedly covered a total of 90 percent of the 25 million children aged under five years at that time.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Indonesia had to tackle between 25,000 to 60,000 cases of polio every year before the polio immunization program. But there have been no cases of polio reported in Indonesia since 1995.

WHO, however, recommended that Indonesia conduct another round of polio immunizations in 2002 as the country's neighbors like India, Afghanistan and Pakistan were still not free from polio. The country hopes that WHO would declare Indonesia polio-free by 2005.

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