[Impact of the new intervention model to increase vaccination coverage in Paraguay, 2023Impacto de um novo modelo de ação para aumentar as coberturas vacinais no Paraguai, 2023].

Abstract

Objective: To describe the impact of the new intervention model implemented by Paraguay across five districts of the Central Region in the last quarter of 2023, consisting of an integrated health services-based strategy to recover coverage with the tracer vaccine (pentavalent until April 2023, hexavalent thereafter) in children under 1 year of age; and the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine for the 1-year-old population.

Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional study with comparative analysis before (epidemiological weeks [EW] 1 and 34 of 2023) and after (EW35 and EW52 of 2023) the intervention. Three indicators were assessed: a) coverage with all three doses of pentavalent or hexavalent vaccine and first and second doses of MMR; b) productivity, represented by third doses of pentavalent or hexavalent vaccine administered; and c) dropout rates for the pentavalent or hexavalent and MMR vaccines.

Results: After the intervention, average weekly coverage with the third dose of pentavalent or hexavalent vaccine was 1.2%, an increase of 1.0% from the pre-intervention average. Compared to 2022, coverage with the third dose of pentavalent or hexavalent vaccine increased by 3.5% in 2023, while coverage with the first and second doses of MMR increased 32.7% and 4%, respectively. The average number of weekly third doses of pentavalent or hexavalent vaccine administered increased to 257, up from 215 prior to the intervention. The dropout rate declined from 17.9% to 9.2% for pentavalent and hexavalent vaccine and from 55.0% to 46.5% for the MMR vaccine.

Conclusion: Implementation of the new intervention model had a positive impact on the indicators of interest, halting the downward trend in vaccination coverage recorded in recent years.