Complete Immunization and Reason for Non-Compliance among Childern Under Five Years of Age

Objective To determine the complete coverage of childhood immunization in children under five years of age and to determine the reason of non-immunization in these children. Methods This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at Creek General Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan from  1st January 2019 to 30th July 2019. All children 1-5 years of age irrespective of age of either gender attending the out-patient department were consecutively enrolled. Immunization status was noted by taking history from parents/guardians and immunization card as well, if available. Reason of non-vaccination was also noted. Results Of 287 children, vaccination at birth was reported by 276 (96.2%), at 6 weeks by 264 (92%), at 10 weeks by 256 (89.2%), at 14 weeks by 241 (84%), at 9 months by 230 (80.1%), and at 15 months by 220 (76.7%). Significant association was observed in between concern about vaccine safety and religion (p-value 0.013), vaccine safety and household head (p-value 0.017), long distance and birthplace (p-value 0.001), lack of money and access to media (p-value 0.044), absence of personnel and household head (p-value 0.007), child sickness and child age (p-value 0.048), child sickness and mother’s age (p-value <0.001), forgetting the day of vaccination and mother’s age (p-value 0.001), forgetting the day of vaccination and mother’s education (p-value 0.021), and complications from previous injection and mother’s age (p-value 0.040). Conclusion The findings of the current study have revealed that complete vaccination in children under five years is still very low even in urban city of Pakistan.