Objective
To assess the contribution of rapid vaccination monitoring to the achievement of vaccination coverage targets in catch-up vaccination campaigns.
Methods
Data on catch-up vaccination were obtained from the database of the Directorate of Vaccine- Preventable Diseases. Data analysis was performed in Stata V.15®. Frequency and summary statistics were calculated; the p value was used to determine statistical significance. The change in mean coverage between interventions was assessed with Student’s t-test.
Results
During the catch-up campaign, 815,482 children in 157 municipalities were immunized, and 2,431 rapid monitoring activities were carried out. Prior to rapid monitoring, measles and rubella (MR) vaccine coverage was 85.7%, while bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) coverage was 89.9%; coverage was homogeneous in 78% of municipalities. After rapid monitoring, MR coverage rose to 98.7% and bOPV coverage to 100%. MR coverage increased by 14.6% and bOPV coverage by 11.7%; both changes were statistically significant (Student's t-test: 12.3 and 10.8, respectively; P = 0).
Conclusion
Rapid monitoring is a useful strategy for validating coverage during catch-up vaccination campaigns and should be carried out by outside teams. The reported data can be used to improve the accuracy of coverage data. Rapid monitoring is an appropriate strategy from a cost-benefit standpoint, and we recommend its use to assess data quality during catch-up vaccination campaigns.