Indonesia football squad gets first polio shots ahead of SEA Games

Total protection: KOI chief Raja Okto Saptahari (left), Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali (second left) and Bio Farma’s marketing, research and development director Sri Harsi Teteki (second right) pose for a photograph. (The Jakarta Post/Courtesy of Bio Farma)

Indonesia’s U-22 football team, as part of the 1,500 athlete-strong SEA Games contingent, has become the first team to receive the IPV or polio shot provided by PT Bio Farma to avoid contracting poliovirus type 2 following an outbreak in the Philippines that began in September.

Also in attendance were Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali and Indonesia Olympics Committee (KOI) chief Raja Okto Saptahari.

Bio Farma’s marketing, research and development director Sri Harsi Teteki said the polio injections were recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), which mandates everyone who enters a region with a polio outbreak to be injected with polio serum to prevent the virus entering the country.

“We have to protect our athletes from the virus so they can compete to their maximum and return home safely,” Sri Harsi Teteki said on Friday after the event.

Bio Farma’s marketing and sales division head Tedi Hirawan said the serum would be distributed at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, so it could be administered at anytime before the contingent’s departure.

“We have made them ready at the airport’s health facilities,” Tedi said.