Journal article
Measuring polio immunity to plan immunization activities
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is closer than ever to achieving a polio-free world. Immunization activities must still be carried out in non-endemic countries to maintain population immunity at levels which will stop poliovirus from spreading if it is re-introduced from still-infected areas. In areas where there is no active transmission of poliovirus, programs must rely on surrogate indicators of population immunity to determine the appropriate immunization activities, typically caregiver-reported vaccination history obtained from non-polio acute flaccid paralysis patients identified through polio surveillance. We used regression models to examine the relationship between polio vaccination campaigns and caregiver-reported polio vaccination history. We find that in many countries, vaccination campaigns have a surprisingly weak impact on these commonly used indicators. We conclude that alternative criteria and data, such as routine immunization indicators from vaccination records or household surveys,
Authors
Languages
- English
Publication year
2016
Journal
Vaccine
Volume
48
Type
Journal article
Categories
- Data
Diseases
- Polio
Countries
- Afghanistan
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
Tags
- Coverage monitoring
- Data quality
- Data reporting
WHO Regions
- African Region
- Eastern Mediterranean Region