Brazilian experience with rapid monitoring of vaccination coverage during a national rubella elimination campaign.

OBJECTIVE: To describe an adapted version of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) methodology for rapid monitoring of vaccination coverage and its use as a supervisory tool to guide decision-making and strategies for end-stage vaccination activities (mop-up" operations) following a six-week national rubella elimination campaign in Brazil. METHODS: Vaccination coverage assessments modeled on a variation of PAHO's rapid house-to-house coverage monitoring methodology were conducted by Brazilian municipalities following mass immunization of adults and adolescents from August to December 2008. Results of monitoring assessments conducted in 3 658 (65.7%) of 5 564 municipalities were reported to Brazil's National Immunization Program. RESULTS: Information on vaccination against rubella was obtained from more than 1.5 million Brazilians (2.1% of the 70.1 million people targeted for immunization) during vaccination coverage monitoring. According to the assessment data vaccination targets of 95% coverage were r