Assessing vaccine data recording in Brazil.

Mario Lucio De Oliveira Novaes,Ronaldo Rocha Bastos,Renan Moritz Varnier Rodrigues De Almeida

doi:10.1590/1980-5497201500040006

Mario Lucio De Oliveira Novaes, Ronaldo Rocha Bastos + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-5497201500040006

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Abstract

Vaccines represent an important advancement for improving the general health of a population. The effective recording of vaccine data is a factor for the definition of its supply chain. This study investigated vaccine data recording relatively to data collected from vaccination rooms and data obtained from a government-developed Internet platform. The monthly recorded total number of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine (alone or in combination with the Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccine) doses administered in a medium-sized city of the Southeast region of Brazil was collected for the period January/2006 through December/2010 from two sources: City level (directly from vaccination rooms, the study "gold standard"), and Federal level (from an Internet platform developed by the country government). Data from these sources were compared using descriptive statistics and the Percentage error. The data values made available by the Internet platform differed from those obtained from the vaccination rooms, with a Percentage error relatively to the actual values in the range [-0.48; 0.39]. Concordant values were observed only in one among the sixty analyzed months (1.66%). A frequent and large difference between the number of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine doses administered in the two levels was detected.

Highlights

At least 25% of the world deaths are caused by infectious diseases, most of which in children between zero and five years of age; and more than 60% of these deaths could be avoided by effective immunization programs[1]
This study investigated vaccine data recording relatively to data collected from vaccination rooms and data obtained from a government-developed Internet platform
The monthly recorded total number of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine doses administered in a medium-sized city of the Southeast region of Brazil was collected for the period January/2006 through December/2010 from two sources: City level, and Federal level

Summary

Introduction

At least 25% of the world deaths are caused by infectious diseases, most of which in children between zero and five years of age; and more than 60% of these deaths could be avoided by effective immunization programs[1]. Worldwide vaccine coverage has been increasing since the 1980s, showing the importance of the immunization programs currently under way, especially in developing countries[1,2] In these countries, immunization programs suffer from the lack of technical and human resources, resulting in vaccine data quality problems and in poor data interchange between local level (vaccination rooms) and central government level (federal), hindering policies for health care planning[2,3,4,5]. These problems may result in an inadequate evaluation of vaccine supply chain and vaccine campaigns, with serious repercussions in immunization program strategies[3,6]

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