Immunization status in children

Abstract

Objective : Recent studies and surveys are observing a declining trend of routine immunization coverage and fully immunized children in India are reported to be 38%. A rapid assessment technique was used on National Immunization Day (PPI) to assess the immunization status among children in the age group of 12–23 months covering urban, rural and slum areas in UT, Chandigarh.Methods : The study covered 796 children in proportion of their distribution in urban, rural and slum areas.Results : Evaluation recorded fully immunized children as 72.23%, partially immunized as 22.99% and unimmunized as 4.64%. Only 58.66% children in urban slums were fully immunized. The overall coverage for various vaccines was BCG: 93.09%, DPT₁/ OPV₁: 93.97%, DPT₂/OPV₂ 90.57%, DPT₃/OPV₃: 85.92% and measles: 76%. No sex-wise difference was noticed in the study.Conclusion. Efforts must be made to strengthen routine immunization programme especially in the underprivileged groups and areas such as slum in cities so that target of universal coverage can be achieved as envisaged at national level.