Peer-reviewed article
Coverage rates of the children vaccination programme in Greenland
Nadja Albertsen, Anna Rask Lynge, Nils Skovgaard, Jesper Søndergaard Olesen, Michael Lynge Pedersen ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study measured vaccination coverage rates among all eligible children in Greenland between March 2018 and June 2019. Overall national coverage was 85.4%, with very high coverage (97.1%) for vaccinations at birth but declining coverage for later doses and certain vaccines like MMR. Coverage rates for most vaccinations fell below WHO recommendations, though significant regional variation was found. An SMS reminder system tested in Nuuk improved local MMR coverage from 57.8% to 75.5%.
Key points
- National vaccination coverage at birth was 97.1%, declining to 83.6% by 12 months
- MMR coverage was 76.9% at 15 months and 64.1% at 4 years, dropping to 40.9% in districts
- HPV vaccination coverage at age 12 was 88.4% for the first dose and 71.6% for the second
- Most national coverage rates were below WHO recommendations
- SMS reminder system in Nuuk increased local MMR coverage from 57.8% to 75.5%
Limitations
The study describes coverage rates at a single time point but does not explain the causes of low coverage or regional disparities. It provides limited information about the SMS reminder system evaluation, including sample size, duration, and whether improvements were sustained.
Abstract
In order to estimate the current coverage rate among all children in Greenland, we conducted an observational cross-sectional study identifying all children in Greenland eligible for a vaccination between 1 March 2018 and 16 June 2019. we found an overall national coverage of 85.4%. The national coverage for the vaccinations given at birth was 97.1%, dropping to 94.3%, 87.7% and 83.6% at ages 3, 5 and 12 months. Among children eligible for the Measles, Mumps and Rubella-vaccinations, the national coverage was 76.9% for children aged 15 months and 64.1% for children aged 4 years, but dropping to 40.9% in the districts. At preschool, the national coverage was 79.9%. Among the 12-year-old, the national coverages of the two vaccinations against Human Papilloma Virus were 88.4% and 71.6%, respectively, and for the three Hepatitis B-vaccinations 89.8%, 84.1% and 69.6%. A subgroup-analysis and test of an SMS-reminder system in Nuuk improved the coverage from 57.8% to 75.5% locally. Overall, we found a high national coverage rate among the newborn in Greenland. The national coverage rates of the remaining vaccinations were below the WHO-recommendations, however with great regional differences.Abbreviations: CVP: Children Vaccination Programme; BCG: Bacille Calmette–Guerin; EMR: Electronic medical Record system; DTPHiB: Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Haemophilus influenza B; HBV: Hepatitis B; HPV: Human Papilloma Virus; MMR: Measles, Mumps, Rubella; SMS: Short Text Message; WHO: World Health Organization; GVAP: Global Vaccine Action Plan; EVAP: The WHO European Vaccine Action Plan.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- SMS reminder system sent to parents
- Population
- Children eligible for MMR vaccination in Nuuk, Greenland
Key finding
SMS reminder system increased local MMR coverage from 57.8% to 75.5%
Albertsen et al. · OpenAlex · 1 Jan 2020