Post-vaccinal adverse effects monitoring during national campaign of vaccination against measles in Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

In spite of the effectiveness of anti-measles vaccine, its administration is not deprived of serious risks. Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) can harm successes of the vaccination. The objective was to determine the incidence of the AEFI in this vaccinated population. A prospective study of passive AEFI monitoring was initiated during the national campaign of vaccination against the measles from August 18th to 27th, 2005. It concerned children between 9 months to 15 years old. Were included all events occurred between August 18th and September 18th, 2005, on vaccinated children. These events were analyzed according to WHO criteria's. 75 cases of AEFI were notified. The incidence of AEFI was estimated at 1.91 cases per 10(5) vaccinated children. Children from 5 to 59 months represented 57.33% with a sex ratio of 1.33. 20% of AEFI were serious. The AEFI had occurred in the first three days after vaccination (69.33%). The cutaneomucous allergies were represented more than half of AEFI (53.33%), followed by feverish syndromes (24%). The causes were the vaccine reactions (67%), coincidences (29%) and errors of program (4%). The outcome was favourable in 97.33% of cases with 2 cases of death. Our study reveals good safety of vaccine against measles. The issues caused by serious AEFI could be regulated by an operational system of vaccinovigilance in order to improve the vaccination cover because it is a public health priority.