Vaccination rate in Flanders.

Vaccines have been the most important medical advance ever and their impact on morbidity and mortality can hardly be overestimated. In addition to individual protection, vaccination programs induce herd immunity resulting in a shielding blanket which is able to give shelter to those who cannot be protected through vaccination because of weak immune response and/or health related contraindication. If the vaccination coverage drops below 90 or 95% in a given population, then pockets of susceptible subjects may weaken herd immunity, leading to new outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. A periodic study of the vaccination coverage of children in a given population informs policy makers about the risk of outbreaks. Recently, the Belgian Superior Health Council recommended vaccination of pregnant women against pertussis and flu to protect the very vulnerable infants against pertussis and pregnant women against flu. Up till now vaccination coverage in this group has only been studied in small samples or in a group in which both vaccine strategies were not yet fully implemented. In this research project, we will retrospectively study the vaccination coverage of recommended vaccines in young children (18-24 months) and adolescents (16 years) in Flanders, based on documented vaccination data collected during face-to-face interviews with parents at home. Reasons for non- or incomplete vaccination will also be studied. Apart from the vaccination coverage in children and adolescents, the vaccination coverage of the parents of young children will also be estimated. Additionally, vaccination against influenza and pertussis of pregnant women will be studied in a separate cohort. In all groups the vaccination data collected at home will be checked against the Flemish vaccination registry Vaccinnet. Based on the findings of this study, recommendations will be formulated to increase the vaccination coverage, where necessary, to strengthen the current vaccination strategies and improve the vaccination policy in Flanders.

Keywords:Pregnant women, Adolescents, Children, Vaccination coverage

Disciplines:Biomarker discovery and evaluation, Drug discovery and development, Medicinal products, Pharmaceutics, Pharmacognosy and phytochemistry, Pharmacology, Pharmacotherapy, Toxicology and toxinology, Other pharmaceutical sciences