Peer-reviewed article
High coverage and timeliness of vaccination of children under 6 years of age in Risaralda, Colombia
Jorge Enrique Machado‐Alba, Manuel Enrique Machado‐Duque, Juan Camilo Vargas-Zambrano ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined vaccination coverage and timeliness in children under 6 years in Risaralda, Colombia during 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers surveyed 2,457 children and found that most vaccinations had coverage above 95%, with high timeliness rates around 90% or more. However, some vaccinations showed lower performance: booster shots for diphtheria/pertussis/tetanus and oral polio at 18 months reached only 91%, influenza 85.6%, and yellow fever just 49.2%. The study identified specific opportunities for improvement in vaccination timeliness, particularly for certain vaccines at 6 months of age.
Key points
- Coverage exceeded 95% for most vaccinations in the Colombian Vaccination Plan
- Overall timeliness of vaccination was close to or above 90% for most vaccines
- Yellow fever vaccination had notably lower coverage (49.2%) and timeliness compared to other vaccines
- DTP-Hib-HBV (pentavalent) and polio vaccines at 6 months showed timeliness of only 79.4%
- Influenza vaccination had moderate performance with 85.6% coverage and timeliness
Limitations
The study is a retrospective cross-sectional survey from 2019, which provides a snapshot in time but cannot establish causal relationships or track changes over time. The findings predate the COVID-19 pandemic and may not reflect current vaccination performance.
Abstract
This study determined the coverage and timeliness of immunization in children <6 y from Risaralda, Colombia.A retrospective cross-sectional study evaluated data from a vaccination coverage and timeliness verification survey conducted in 2019, including 2457 children <6 y from Risaralda, Colombia.Variables included demographics, a record of vaccinations included in the Colombian Vaccination Plan, and date of immunization.Vaccination was defined as timely until 29 d after the day established by the plan.Coverage was over 95% for all vaccinations, except the boosters of diphtheria/pertussis/tetanus (DTP) and oral polio at 18 months (91.0%), influenza (85.6%), and yellow fever (49.2%).Most surveyed children demonstrated very high timeliness of vaccination, with values close to, or over, 90%, although there were exceptions for pentavalent (DTP+Haemophilus influenzae type B+hepatitis B) and polio vaccines at 6 months (79.4%), influenza (85.6%), and yellow fever (49.2%).Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Colombian Vaccination Plan demonstrated high coverage and timeliness of vaccination of children <6 y of age; however, timeliness for the third dose of DTP-Hib-HBV and polio showed opportunities for improvement.