Assessment Status of Immunization for Children Under 2 Years Old in Shahriar , Iran

Abstract

Background: Immunization campaign is one of the most effective acts for improving community health, Yet under immunized groups, leave communities at risk for vaccine -preventable diseases. The objective of the present study is to assess status of immunization for children under 2 years old in Shahriar, Iran. Methods: This research is a cross- sectional study. Cluster sampling was used to select 210 children in the age group 18-24 month-old who were resident in Shahriar. Standard formats were used for collection of data. Descriptive and inferential statistics such as Chi-Squares, Fisher exact test, t-test, Anova, Bivariate and Logistic regression models were used to analyze the data. Results: The results show that vaccination coverage in children was higher than 90% and the highest percent of invalid vaccination (4.3%) was related to 4.5 months old children. 17.8 percent of the children partially vaccinated and 41.4 percent were vaccinated completely but with more than one month delay. The main reason for failure to immunize was mainly carelessness on health care providers and for delayed immunization was an inter-current illness. Characteristics that are strongly associated with the completion of the entire series of childhood immunization included the following: birth weight of child and number of growth monitoring visits in the second year of life. Characteristic, which is strongly associated with the delayed immunization more than one month, was center of childhood immunization. The most commonly barriers reported by the participants were waiting too long. Conclusion: There are barriers in vaccination delivery, each of barriers including the no efficient recall and reminder system, confusing vaccination orders, perceived contraindications, waiting too long, these factors was statistically associated with immunization status. It is now the time for a boost to be given to both quality and sustainability appropriate improvements and solutions should be introduced.