[Study of vaccination of children at a health center]

Abstract

Objective: To find the vaccination coverage of children seen at a Health Centre. To complete the vaccination, assess the validity of the clinical notes as a record and to verify the tendency for the number of those properly vaccinated to decrease with age.

Design: Crossover and descriptive.

Setting: Chopera I Primary Care team.

Participants: The 877 children between 4 months and 7 years old at a Paediatrics clinic and between 12 and 16 years at a general medical clinic.

Measurements and results: The percentage of those properly vaccinated were, for the first five appointments of the official vaccination calendar, 85.29%, 89.24%, 83.98%, 81.90% and 81.95%, respectively; at 6 years, 65.51%; for German Measles, 44.30%; and in the last one, 40.80%. The percentage of the 2 to 5-year old cohort fully vaccinated was 91.10%; and of the 15 to 16-year old cohort, 37%.

Conclusions: The importance of vaccination surveys as against other measures. Limitations of surveys at the Health Centre. First vaccination percentages close to W.H.O. objectives. Decrease with age of those properly vaccinated. Need for universal recording systems and that the Primary Care teams assume the prime responsibility in vaccination monitoring.