An assessment of the implementation of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccination program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait infants in North Queensland
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2003.27.50Keywords:
pneumococcal conjugate vaccinate, surveillance, vaccination, pneumoniaAbstract
A cohort of 199 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants, born in north Queensland in August and September 2002, were followed-up to ascertain the uptake of the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (7vPCV) by certain ages. Although 70 per cent of the cohort had received a dose of 7vPCV by three months, only 50 per cent had received three doses by seven months. Most (approximately 90%) of the children who received the vaccine by three and five months were given it at the same time as the other two scheduled injectable vaccines, and most (84%) of the children received three doses of 7vPCV by 12 months of age. However, 18 per cent of the cohort had not received any vaccines (other than those given at birth), another 10 per cent had received the other scheduled vaccines but no 7vPCV by three months of age, and 38 per cent had received the other vaccines but not two doses of 7vPCV by five months. A variety of measures are described that have been put in place to attain optimal coverage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants in north Queensland with 7vPCV and to improve timeliness. Commun Dis Intell 2003;27:262-266.
Downloads
References
Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation. Draft recommendations: National Childhood Pneumococcal Vaccination Program. Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, 2001.
Conjugate pneumococcal vaccine now available in the NT! Northern Territory Diseases Control Bulletin 2001;8:39.
Selvey LA, Peterson KV. A State-based vaccination register (letter). Med J Aust 1998;169:59.
Hanna JN, Wakefield JE, Doolan CJ, Messner JL. Childhood immunisation: factors associated with failure to complete the recommended schedule by two years of age. Aust J Public Health 1994;18:15-21.
Woodin KA, Rodewald LE, Humiston SG, Carges MS, Schaffer SJ, Szilagyi PG. Physician and parent opinions. Are children becoming pincushions from immunizations? Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1995;149:845-849.
Bartlett MJ, Burgess MA, McIntyre PB, Heath TC. Parent and general practitioner preferences for infant immunisation: Reactogenicity or multiple injections? Aust Fam Physician 1999;28 Suppl 1:S22-S27.
Melman ST, Nguyen TT, Ehrlich E, Schorr M, Anbar RD. Parental compliance with multiple immunization injections. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1999;153:1289-1291.
Kolasa MS, Petersen TJ, Brink EW, Bulim ID, Stevenson JM, Rodewald LE. Impact of multiple injections on immunization rates among vulnerable children. Am J Prev Med 2001;21:261-266.
Fagan RL, Hanna JN, Messer RD, Brookes DL, Murphy DM. The epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal disease in children in Far North Queensland. J Paediatr Child Health 2001;37:571-575.
Leach AJ, Boswell JB, Asche V, Nienhuys TG, Mathews JD. Bacterial colonization of the nasopharynx predicts very early onset and persistence of otitis media in Australian Aboriginal infants. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1994;13:983-989.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2003 Communicable Diseases Intelligence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
