00:00 At a weekend market in the city of Surabaya, health worker Piki Dewi Silastawati is looking
00:08 for children.
00:09 We have one vial with us which is enough for 50 children.
00:14 This morning we've already vaccinated 13.
00:18 Many children here tell her they've already had several doses.
00:22 For others, she's chasing up their parents for permission to administer the oral vaccine.
00:29 Polio cases were found in the outer areas of East Java, so we're now doing polio vaccinations
00:38 all over Indonesia.
00:40 After a boy from the outlying island Madura was diagnosed with polio late last year, another
00:46 10 cases have been discovered.
00:49 I've never seen people suffering from polio with my own eyes.
00:52 I've just heard about it.
00:54 I'm scared because if my daughter gets it, she might be paralysed.
00:59 Other parents like me are worried about their kids getting polio, so we're all taking our
01:03 children to be vaccinated.
01:06 But not all parents are so willing.
01:08 Health worker Piki isn't just bringing vials of vaccine, she's also giving out information.
01:15 Some experts here wonder if the COVID pandemic disrupted the normal rollout of immunisations.
01:22 Others say the vaccine take-up rate has always been a bit lower in East Java.
01:27 Either way, public health officials are now trying to make up for lost time.
01:31 They're hoping to administer more than 4 million vaccinations in the city of Surabaya alone
01:36 in the coming weeks, as a broader program rolls out across the nation.
01:41 So far, all cases have been in Java and none in Bali.
01:45 Once a disease causing hundreds of thousands of cases worldwide each year, endemic polio
01:51 was thought to be eradicated in all but two countries in Asia.
01:55 With this latest outbreak, Indonesia makes it three.
01:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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