Moderate immunization coverage levels in East Delhi: implications for disease control programmes and introduction of new vaccines.

A vaccination coverage survey conducted in East Delhi in September 1999 showed that only 58.6 per cent of the children aged 12-23 months had received the full course of the vaccines recommended under the national immunization programme. Coverage with the third dose of DTP and oral polio vaccines was around 71 per cent, and with BCG and measles vaccines was 83 and 59 per cent, respectively. Drop-out rates between DTP1 and DTP3 and between DTP1 and measles immunization were 13.8 and 28.7 per cent, respectively. Nine per cent of the children had not received a single dose of any vaccine. The main reason for failure to immunize was lack of information. There was a marginal increase in DTP3 and OPV3 immunization coverage levels as recorded through a previous survey in 1996, a drop in coverage with measles vaccine from 64.3 to 59 per cent, and a significant increase in tetanus toxoid immunization coverage of pregnant women from 79.4 to 93 per cent. The percentage of children who had not received any vaccine declined from 13 to 9 per cent in the period between the two surveys. Coverage with hepatitis B vaccine at 14 per cent was only marginally higher than the baseline rate of 9 per cent before the vaccine was made available, free of cost, through government and municipal corporation health facilities.