JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia is immunizing millions of children and teenagers against diphtheria, a disease that has killed 38 people since January.
Children in school uniforms and toddlers clinging to their parents received shots at a high school in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, on Monday, the first day of the campaign.
Diphtheria is a bacterial disease that can cause breathing difficulties, heart failure and paralysis. It was nearly 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.