Frequency and Factors of Low Vaccination Coverage in Children Visiting a Tertiary Care Facility

  • Sadaf Asim JINNAH SINDH MEDICAL UNIVERSITY
  • Muhammad Hayat National Institute of Child Health
  • Misbah Anjum National Institute of Child Health, Karachi
  • Zubair Khosso National Institute of Child Health, Karachi
Keywords: Expanded program on immunization (EPI), Immunization, Risk factors

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of vaccination coverage and factors leading to low vaccination coverage in children visiting a tertiary care hospital

Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted at out -patient department of National Institute of Child Health (NICH) Karachi over a period of six months. Children of age from 2 months to 5 years of either gender attending OPD irrespective of their attending complaint were included. Partial to unvaccinated child as per EPI schedule was labeled as low vaccination coverage confirmed by Vaccination Card.

 Results: Total 136 children were enrolled with mean age of 2.83 ± 1.08 years out of which 52% were male. 34.60% patients were fully vaccinated while 60.30% patients were partially vaccinated and 5.10% patients were unvaccinated. There were 65.4% patients with low vaccination status. Factors leading to low vaccination showed that the perception of no benefit from vaccination was responsible for 39%, distant vaccination centers were found in 36%, absence of mobile teams in 8.8%, improper knowledge of EPI schedule in 18.4%, non-availability of vaccine in 8.1%, pain due to vaccine in 3.7% and maternal illiteracy was found in 41.9%.

Conclusion: We found 65.4% patients with low immunization status with leading risk factor of poor maternal education in 41.9%.

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Published
2020-02-24
How to Cite
Asim, S., Hayat, M., Anjum, M., & Khosso, Z. (2020). Frequency and Factors of Low Vaccination Coverage in Children Visiting a Tertiary Care Facility. Annals of Jinnah Sindh Medical University, 5(2), 83-86. Retrieved from https://ajsmu.com/index.php/AJSMU/article/view/66