Mandatory childhood vaccination coverage and notifications of vaccine-preventable diseases in a municipality in the Eastern Amazon

Abstract

The mandatory vaccination coverage rate for children has been declining over time in Brazil, leading to the reappearance of diseases considered eradicated or under control. This study aims to analyze the trend of the historical series (2016 to 2022) of vaccination coverage (VC) in children under nine years of age and the records of vaccine-preventable diseases in this age group in the municipality of Belém, Pará. This is a cross-sectional, descriptive, quantitative study based on collecting secondary data from the National Immunization Program Information System. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the arithmetic mean, median, standard deviation, and simple linear regression. The data obtained on VC for seven vaccines contained in the Brazilian calendar, associated with cases of reported diseases, were placed in combinatorial graphs to better interpret and demonstrate the data. Analysis of this data indicated a downward trend in VC, with only the BCG vaccine reaching its targets in the period analyzed in two alternate years: 2016 and 2018. The targets (95%) for coverage recommended by the National Immunization Program were not reached for the other six. As for records of illnesses, the occurrences of meningitis (29.14 ± 12.37) and measles (27.85 ± 55.05) were the highest among cases of reported diseases. Tuberculosis was also high in the municipality of Belém between 2016 (1,315) and 2017 (1,435), in other words, an increase of 120 cases. However, the number of cases notified to the Ministry of Health in this period was 7 (5.8%). Therefore, it should be noted that more attention should be paid to the cases notified and those occurring and registered in the municipality to better plan and achieve the vaccination targets and, in this way, diminish or keep these diseases under control.