Immunisation status of children up to 15 years of age

Aim: To determine the immunisation status of children up to 15 years of age and factors associated with incomplete immunisation. Materials and Methods: Three hundred seventy-seven children in the age group 1 month to 15 years, attending regular outpatient department (OPD) were screened for their immunization status by direct questionnaire method and checking the immunization medical records. Children were divided based on their age in to 3 groups viz. <1yr, 1 to 5yr, >5yr. Information regarding their residence, education status of their parents, community, various vaccines, and whether immunization status was complete, or incomplete was recorded. Results: The mean age of children ranged from 3.68 +3.47 years. Twentythree percent of the infants were incompletely immunised (p=0.006). Twenty seven percent of Muslims and 28% of Buddhists were incompletely immunised (P=0.003). Illiteracy in father and mother is associated with incomplete immunisation by 34.38% (P=0.0004) and 31.15% (P<0.001), respectively. Main reason for incomplete immunisation was non-availability of vaccine, as seen in 57.7% of cases. Other reasons include immunisation facility not available locally (32.7%), parents refusing immunisation for their children (30.8%), child unwell (5.8%), parent out of town (3.8%). We did not find any gender bias in our study. Also, in our study, no vaccine in universal immunization programme (UIP) had lower coverage as compared to other vaccines. Conclusion: Immunization status in children in India needs to be improved. Religious beliefs, literacy rates in parents seem to affect the immunization completion in the child. Introduction Immunization is the process whereby a person is made immune or resistant to an infectious disease, typically by the administration of a vaccine. Vaccines stimulate the body’s own immune system to protect the person against subsequent infection or disease.1 According to World Health Organization (WHO), immunization is a proven tool for controlling and eliminating lifethreatening infectious diseases and is estimated to avert between 2 and 3 million deaths each year, but an estimated 18.7 million infants worldwide are still missing out on basic vaccines.1 Every year in India, 500,000 children die due to vaccine-preventable diseases and another 89,00,000 children remain at risk, because they are either unimmunized or partially immunized against vaccine-preventable diseases.2 India has one of the largest Universal Immunization Programs (UIP) in the world in terms of the quantities of vaccines used, number of beneficiaries covered, geographical spread and human resources involved. Despite being operational for over 30 years, UIP has been able to fully immunize only 65% children in the first year of their life and the increase in coverage has stagnated.2 To achieve full immunization coverage for all children, the Government of India launched Mission Indra Dhanush in December 2014. The goal of this program is to ensure full immunization with all available vaccines for children up to two years and pregnant women. Under this programme, all vaccines are available free of cost.2 The Indian Government’s UIP provides vaccines against six diseases to all infants free of charge: one dose of bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG; tuberculosis); three doses of DPT3; three doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV); and one dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV). All these vaccine doses should be administered by age 12 months.2 Indian children who receive all recommended doses of these four UIP vaccines are considered fully vaccinated by WHO; a child lacking any of the recommended doses is considered undervaccinated, and children who have not received any vaccinations are considered non-vaccinated.3 We undertook this study to determine the immunization status of children in Maharashtra who used to visit a tertiary hospital for their health care needs. Address for Correspondance: Dr Harshal Dhabe, Department of Pediatrics, A.I.M.S Hospital, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. Email: drharshal101@gmail.com ©2021 Pediatric Oncall ARTICLE HISTORY Received 23 June 2021 Accepted 20 August 2021