Comparing the reporting rates of adverse events following immunization in Albania with those from other countries through a systematic review of AEFI internationally

Abstract

Adverse Events following Immunization are becoming day after day an increasing concern all over the world. Different countries have implemented various post-vaccination surveillance systems to detect, treat and prevent AEFI. AEFI surveillance systems are passive or active. The AEFI reporting rates will differ dependently by the post vaccination surveillance system type and other factors related to methods used to investigate AEFI. AE reporting rates vary among different cultural differences in various countries. Geographical variations in AE reporting are a known phenomenon (Joelson et al., 1997). The main objective of this study is to confront the nature, design and performance of AEFI surveillance system in Albania with other countries. This comparison will be done extracting various indicators from studies found in the literature and confronting them with those obtained by the analysis of the AEFI database of Albania, in order to highlight differences and similarities and try to configure reasons that support them.