Abstract

BUENO, Marcínia Moreno  and  MATIJASEVICH, Alicia. Assessment of hepatitis B vaccination coverage in the population younger than 20 years in municipalities of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Epidemiol. Serv. Saúde [online]. 2011, vol.20, n.3, pp.345-354. ISSN 1679-4974.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/S1679-49742011000300009.

OBJECTIVE: the study aims to evaluate the hepatitis B vaccination coverage among people younger than 20 years in 22 cities of the Third Regional Health Office, during 2007. METHODOLOGY: data were obtained from the Information System for Evaluating the Immunization Program; hepatitis B vaccination coverage was defined as the percentage of the target-population that received the third dose of the vaccination scheme; the denominator employed for children younger than five years was the number of livebirths obtainedfrom the Live Birth Information System; for the remaining age groups, the authors used the population estimative of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics Foundation. RESULTS: the results of the study show high vaccination coverage among children under one year of age; however, as age increases, the vaccination coverage shows a reduction in almost all municipalities, pointing out to a need for reevaluation of current strategies employed by health services. CONCLUSION: this study may serve as a guide for the planning of strategic actions of vaccination in the public health services of the municipalities in order to achieve broad vaccination coverage and, periodically, monitor its development.

Keywords : vaccination coverage; vaccination; hepatitis B; adolescents; children.

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