ObjectiveThe aims of this study were: (1) to calculate measles vaccination coverage and characterize its determinants, and (2) to qualitatively explore factors associated with reasons associated with not immunization a child.ResultIn this study, the measles immunization coverage was 71.3%. The main reasons for not using the immunization services were lack of knowledge about immunization, no faith on immunization, fear of side effects and place of the service is too far. Age of mother, awareness about measles immunization, ante natal care service utilization and health facility availability were the factors that significantly associated with measles immunization. The findings of this study revealed that the coverage of measles immunization is low. Therefore health education on measles should be given for community and mothers and other additional measures should be done.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-019-4104-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.