Abstract

DE MORAES, José Cássio et al. What is the real vaccinattion coverage?. Epidemiol. Serv. Saúde [online]. 2003, vol.12, n.3, pp.147-153. ISSN 1679-4974.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/S1679-49742003000300005.

The National Program of Immunizations (PNI) is an important tool in the control of transmissable diseases that can be prevented through immunizations. By means of this study only the vaccine coverage in children below 1 year of age shall be considered. However, the same principles apply to the other age groups. The vaccine coverage can be understood as the proportion of children below 1 year that received the complete vaccination schedule. Complete coverage should be understood as the application of all vaccines as recommended by PNI, with doses administered at the correct ages (epidemiological adjustment) and respecting correct intervals (immunological adjustment). The aim of this paper is to demonstrate, through empiric data obtained in surveys, that (i) the coverage obtained for each specific vaccine does not correspond to the coverage by the complete schedule for each child, and generally resulting in overestimates of coverage; (ii) there are significant differences between applied doses and correct doses; (iii) there are divergences between production data and survey data; (iv) problems of access or adhesion to the program, and (v) important intra-state and intra-municipal differences must be considered

Keywords : vaccine coverage; vaccine survey; evaluation.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )