Assessing and monitoring vaccination coverage levels: lessons from the Americas

Rapid monitoring in vaccination campaigns during emergencies: the post-earthquake campaign in Haiti

“…repeat mass vaccination -should be implemented in targeted geographical locations. 5,6 In nonemergency settings, mop-up vaccination is generally implemented as soon as a single unvaccinated child is identified among a convenience sample of children from 20 households Problem The earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010 caused 1.5 million people to be displaced to temporary camps. The Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population and global immunization partners developed a plan to deliver vaccines to those residing in these camps.…”

“…The population of such an area may have difficult access to a health clinic, be underserved by the health service or have a history of low vaccination coverage. 5,6 Similar rapid-monitoring approaches have been implemented in other WHO regions. However, such approaches have generally been applied to stable populations in areas where the risk of poor coverage has already been estimated.…”

“…4 Rapid monitoring is typically conducted in communities or neighbourhoods that are known to be at high risk of low vaccination coverage. 5,6 The large population movements in postearthquake Haiti made it impossible to identify areas of low coverage with any accuracy. Therefore, at the start of the emergency vaccination campaign, we assumed that there would be problems in achieving immunization targets in all communities in Port-au-Prince and so planned for rapid monitoring in every camp.…”

Auditing the Immunization Data Quality from Routine Reports in Shangyu District, East China

“…Administrative monitoring systems can provide a strong basis from which to guide planning, review progress, and address gaps in areas with low-coverage or high drop-out rates; if accurate, timely reporting occurs at each level. However, administrative data collected through routine immunization reporting system have been criticized for inaccuracy [3]. Several studies have reported inconsistencies in data reporting.…”

Use and abuse of rapid mnitoring to assess coverage during mass vaccination campaigns

“…5 The Rapid Coverage Monitoring strategy was designed to provide local authorities with "a quick impression of the completeness of vaccination". 6 While formalized during the measles initiative, the concept of rapid monitoring had been used in the Americas in the mid-to-late 1980s during the regional polio eradication effort (Jean Marc Olive, PAHO, personal communication). During campaigns, supervisors collaborate with local workers to identify neighbourhoods at greatest risk of poor coverage and conduct convenience household surveys in each to identify 20 children in the target age group.…”