Immunization Coverage in South Bačka County of Vojvodina, Serbia

Abstract

Introduction: Immunization coverage is a key measure of immunization system performance. Objective: was to assess immunization coverage by combination series of vaccines 3:3 (3 doses of both DTP/ DTaP and OPV/IPV vaccines) and 4:4:1 (4 doses of both DTP/DTaP and OPV/IPV and one dose of MMR vaccine) in a representative sample of children in South Backa County. Up-to-date (UTD) and age-appropriate criteria of immunization coverage were applied at 6, 12 and 24 months of age. Methods: Modified birth certificates follow-back method was used in order to obtain immunization records of 2058 children and to measure UTD and age-appropriate immunization coverage. Results: UTD coverage with combination series 3:3 was 60.1% and 94.0% at 6 and 12 months of age, respectively. At 24 months of age, 85.8% of children were fully immunized with combination series 4:4:1. Age- appropriate immunization coverage of 94.4% was reached. Conclusion: Effective protection against all targetted diseases has been reached by 12 months of age. High level of age-appropriate immunization coverage shows that the risk of vaccine preventable diseases is small between the 3 rd and 5 th year of life and warrants low risk of vaccine preventable diseases. Though achieved with some delay, high level of age-appropriate immunization coverage warrants low risk of vaccine preventable diseases at preschool age in the studied population. Combination series should be used for measuring immunization coverage because it provides better understanding of the immunization process to all stakeholders.