Adequacy of vaccination coverage at school-entry:<br /> Cross-sectional study in schoolchildren of an urban population <br /> <br />
Journal Title: Αρχεία Ελληνικής Ιατρικής - Year 2005, Vol 22, Issue 4
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The valid and accurate estimation of vaccination coverage in children enrolled in the first grade of primary school, in order to evaluate the completeness of the pre-school vaccination schedule. METHOD Information was gathered from the official vaccination cards of children enrolled in all primary schools of the three municipalities that comprise the northern part of Thessaloniki metropolitan area. Specially designed report cards were completed by appropriate trained health professionals and teachers. Data concerning 972 of 1,250 children (77.76%) were analysed for this study. Results were assessed according to the method proposed by the Institute of Child Health during the panhellenic vaccination coverage research. RESULTS The proportion of fully vaccinated children was only 23.3% (CI95%: 20.8-26.1%). Vaccination coverage of children under the age of 2 years, with 4 doses for diphtheria-tetanus, pertussis and poliomyelitis was respectively 71.6%, 67.4% and 74.3%; 5 doses of these vaccines had been given in 83.2%, 48.5% and 84.6% of the children respectively. By the age of 2 years a proportion of 75.7%, 71.2% and 71.5% had been vaccinated against measles, rubella and mumps, but the revaccinated percentages were only 38.5%, 33.4% and 33.9% respectively of the children older than 6 years. Finally, 74% of the children were covered by the hepatitis B vaccine, while 47.8% of the children were vaccinated against infection from Haemophilus influenzae. CONCLUSIONS Comparing data from this study and the panhellenic vaccination coverage studies of 1998 and 2001, it could be concluded that our research population has a similar vaccination coverage, although timely vaccination coverage is gravely below the WHO vaccination targets. Surveillance of immunization through periodic reporting held in schools by the primary health services appears to provide an effective and accurate estimation of vaccination coverage. Motivation of the public health services and the school community can play a very important role in achieving effective herd immunity status and eliminating cases of vaccine preventable diseases.
Authors and Affiliations
M. GAVANA, P. TSOUKANA, E. GIANNAKOPOULOS, A. BENOS
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP154707
- DOI -
- Views 59
- Downloads 0
Hospital performance evaluation based on ESY.net in public hospitals
OBJECTIVE Assessment of the framework and organization and the functioning and outcomes of the health system as a whole, and of its units, is imperative. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the financial and operat...
Assessment of nursing staff on knowledge about cancer pain
OBJECTIVE Assessment of the level of knowledge of the nursing staff about cancer pain. METHOD A quantitative cross study was conducted. Randomized sampling was performed and 174 nurses and nursing assistants took part...
Health-related quality of life measures for people with refractive error
OBJECTIVE This review aims to identify and describe reliable and valid measures of Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) for persons with refractive error, in order to guide health professionals in choosing the appropri...
Religiosity, spirituality and depression
The quest for existential meaning is a universal phenomenon, which is traditionally expressed in official religions (religiosity) or personal transcendence (spirituality). Throughout the greatest part of the twentieth ce...
Hemoglobin E disease, erythroblastopenia
An 18-year-old woman presented to the outpatient clinic because of fever, chills, malaise and symptoms from the upper respiratory and gastrointestinal tract. Five days before her admission she had sore throat, cough a...