Evaluating Strategies for Promoting Immunization Coverage Rates

This essay evaluates strategies to promote immunization coverage rates for infants and young children, addressing the critical need to protect children from vaccine-preventable diseases. The essay explores interventions categorized into three broad areas: enhancing access to vaccination services (e.g., reducing costs, home visits), increasing demand for vaccinations (e.g., client reminders, incentives, education), and strengthening healthcare provider systems (e.g., standing orders, feedback). The essay also identifies factors contributing to low vaccination rates, such as poverty, lack of awareness, and cultural beliefs, along with the negative health outcomes associated with insufficient vaccination. It emphasizes the cost-effectiveness of the interventions and advocates for promoting vaccination coverage to prevent diseases, disabilities, and mortality in children. The essay includes references to support the claims and recommendations.

Running head: PROMOTING IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE 1
Promoting Immunization Coverage Rates for Infants and Young Children
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PROMOTING IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE 2
Promoting Immunization Coverage Rates for Infants and Young Children
Children are normally affected by various diseases that are highly contagious and that
affect their health at later ages. This aspect occurs if the children are not immunized against these
diseases. However, research shows that many people in the communities do not take the
initiative to take the children to get vaccinated against the diseases (Anderson et al. 2015). The
government has made efforts to ensure that people in the communities especially in local areas
are required to have all their children vaccinated against diseases such as polio, measles and
other dangerous diseases below the age of five years. In many countries, the level of vaccination
rates among different population groups remains low even when the government and health care
task force continue making efforts to increase them. Promoting immunization coverage rates
requires serious campaign that intends to increase the vaccine rates among targeted groups in the
community. The population-level coverage involving the immunization against various VPD
(vaccine-preventable diseases) should not fall below the optimal rates in any country Bonanni et
al. 2015). The government and healthcare taskforce needs to come up with various interventions
towards increasing the vaccination coverage that are based on the systematic reviews regarding
evaluation literature. The essay seeks to evaluate the various ways that help increase the
coverage rates of immunization among young children to protect them against such diseases.
The poster designed concerning the promotion of VPD vaccination coverage rates
includes 12 interventions that are recommended by government and healthcare taskforce. These
interventions are divided into three broad categories to enhance their effectiveness. There are
interventions that enhance the access to services involving vaccination that are meant to reduce
the financial barriers for example, cutting down out-of pocket cost (Lu, & Santosham, 2012).
They also reduce the inconveniences of seeking the vaccinations among the parents by bringing

PROMOTING IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE 3
healthcare services to them at their homes and other settings that are non-medical. These four
strategies include; home visits that increase the rates of vaccination on young children, reduction
of the out-of-pockets cost on parents for vaccinations, designing vaccination programs at
organized centers for child care and schools and conducting door-to-door immunization
campaign that targets the local and marginalized areas in the community for free. These
interventions help increase immunization for infants, young children and women who are
vulnerable to diseases.
The second category of interventions involve those that increase the demand for VPD
vaccination and which are meant to increase the rate of people who come to seek vaccination
services for their infants and young children. These strategies involve having people especially
parents educated and made aware of such vaccination services, risk status and how to access
them (Giannattasio et al. 2010). It also involves the provision of material and financial incentives
or through law enactment. The four interventions under the category includes client recall and
reminder systems, family or client incentive rewards, interventions that are community-based
and implemented through a combination method and requirements of vaccination for school
children, child care and college attendance.
The last category of interventions includes the health provider system based strategies.
The interventions target healthcare providers with feedback assessments reminders, education
and various other mechanisms the are meant to lower down the rate of missed opportunities of
vaccinating receptive patients in the process of doing periodic visits (Chiang, Yang, You, Lai, &
Chen, 2013). Such interventions under this category include standing orders, provider feedback
and assessment, provider reminders and interventions that are system-based that can be
implemented through the combination method.

PROMOTING IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE 4
The poster also covers factors that influence low vaccination rates of infants and young
children. The various factors that have seen the vaccination rates remain low involve poverty,
lack of government intervention, lack of awareness regarding the risk levels for lack of
vaccination, lack of healthcare services in the local areas, ignorance among parents and cultural
beliefs that are against hospital healthcare interventions and that promote traditional drugs
(Odone, Fara, Giammaco, Blangiardi, & Signorelli, 2015). The poster has also indicated the
negative outcomes due to lack of vaccinations against diseases at the young age. Based on this
fact, the lack VPDs causes death when diseases strike, disability, weak body health, and
increases chances of acquiring other secondary diseases.
The various interventions are cost-effective to the government and even to the healthcare
task force as they have been evaluated and considered viable in increasing the immunization
rates among infants and young children in the community. The government ensures that the
funding is done for the drugs and the pay for those who are involved in the vaccination process.
To prevent secondary diseases, death, disability issues and general body weakness among
children due to lack of vaccination at young age, it is recommended that the vaccination
coverage rates against diseases be promoted.

PROMOTING IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE 5
References
Anderson, N., Wilson, N., Moon, T., Kanem, N., Diop, A., & Gbodossou, E. (2015). Redefining
Immunization: Not Just a Shot in the Arm. Global Health Communication, 1(1), 1-9.
Bonanni, P., Ferro, A., Guerra, R., Iannazzo, S., Odone, A., Pompa, M. G., ... & Signorelli, C.
(2015). Vaccine coverage in Italy and assessment of the 2012-2014 National
Immunization Prevention Plan. Epidemiol Prev, 39(4 Suppl 1), 146-58.
Chiang, C. J., Yang, Y. W., You, S. L., Lai, M. S., & Chen, C. J. (2013). Thirty-year outcomes
of the national hepatitis B immunization program in Taiwan. Jama, 310(9), 974-976.
Giannattasio, A., Squeglia, V., Vecchio, A. L., Russo, M. T., Barbarino, A., Carlomagno, R., &
Guarino, A. (2010). Pneumococcal and influenza vaccination rates and their determinants
in children with chronic medical conditions. Italian journal of pediatrics, 36(1), 28.
Lu, C. Y., & Santosham, M. (2012). Survey of national immunization programs and vaccine
coverage rates in Asia Pacific countries. Vaccine, 30(13), 2250-2255.
Odone, A., Fara, G. M., Giammaco, G., Blangiardi, F., & Signorelli, C. (2015). The future of
immunization policies in Italy and in the European Union: The Declaration of
Erice. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 11(5), 1268-1271.