Prevalence and underreporting of immunization errors in childhood vaccination: results of a household survey.
Stênio Henrique Oliveira, Brener Santos Silva, Lívia Maria Rezende Carvalho and 4 others
PMID 38373188WHAT IT FOUND
Vaccination records for 453 children contained 55 immunization errors affecting 44 children; all were underreported.
Delayed schedules were linked to 7.5 times the chance of errors, so check intervals and ages.
Key findings
01A household survey of 453 children found 55 immunization errors in vaccination records, affecting 44 children (9.7%).
02All immunization errors identified in the vaccination records were underreported by the health services of the participating municipalities.
03Children with delayed vaccination schedules had 7.5 times the chance of an immunization error compared with children with up-to-date vaccinations.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study looked at records at one point in time, so it cannot show that delayed vaccination caused errors. Reviewing vaccination cards could not identify errors in vaccine administration or handling, so the true number of errors may be higher than measured. Only children who had vaccination records at the time were included, and some households were closed, refused, or had no booklet, so the sample may not represent all eligible children.
Declared interests
Financial support came from the Brazilian National Council for Technological Development (CNPq), grant 420760/2018-0. The supplied text does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that delayed vaccination caused immunization errors. The study was cross-sectional, so it shows an association at one time point, not a cause-and-effect relationship.