It's quite simply a race against time. Health officials in Indonesia are trying to get polio vaccines to approximately 6.4 million children under the age of five in three provinces where the paralyzing disease has recently afflicted 14 children. They are getting assistance from the World Health Organization.

Unfortunately, some members of the local population fear the vaccine. Rumors have circulated that the vaccine will make children sick and some mothers are refusing to let their children get vaccinated. Children who are not immunized run the risk of contracting the disease or spreading it to others even if they do not develop symptoms themselves.

'They know nothing about the usefulness of the vaccine,' said Dr. Immanuel Tarigan, who is helping coordinate vaccinations in some of the affected villages. 'There are rumors that when kids get vaccinated, after that they get a fever.'

Thus far, approximately 80 percent of the children in Indonesia have been vaccinated against polio. The government is determined to make sure the rest of the population is protected as well.

'If the kid's family is reluctant to come to the post, then the paramedics will go door-to-door,' Captain Margono, an army official supervising the Cidahu subdistrict told the Associated Press. 'We have a commitment to control it,' he said. 'It's equivalent to AIDS ... maybe the person looks healthy, but if they are infected they can pass it on to others.'

Now the question is, will health officials be able to get the vaccine to children faster than the disease can spread. It's a race health officials are hoping they will win.