Report on Vaccination Coverage Assessment In Europe

This report relates to the findings of the second survey of Work Package 3

(“Indicators of Immunisation Programmes”) and describes how Vaccination Coverage

is assessed in the VENICE network countries. This 2 nd survey is a follow on to the

first survey which provided a general description of each national immunisation

program in the VENICE countries (see report from the First Survey at

http://venice.cineca.it). This survey was undertaken in 2007.

The aim of this particular survey was to describe the methods used to compute

Vaccination Coverage in the VENICE network states. More specifically, information

was requested about vaccine coverage assessment for specific vaccines, frequency of

assessment, age groups targeted and whether computerised immunisation registries

were used in these countries. The survey was designed to meet the main objective of

WP3, that is to determine common indicators for monitoring the immunisation

coverage across member states as well as their constituent regions (in a comparable

way).

The survey was conducted using a web-based questionnaire. This questionnaire was

completed by 27/28 countries. The summary findings from this survey are: all

countries assess DTP and Polio vaccine coverage, 18 (67%) of which do so annually;

18 (67%) countries assess vaccination coverage in children at or by their second

birthday (24 months of age); 16 (59%) countries assess vaccination coverage at all

three levels of the country’s administration - local, regional and national.

Administrative methods, surveys, and computerised record systems are used in the

different countries to calculate the vaccination coverage for DTP, MCV and influenza

vaccine in various combinations.

Validation of vaccination coverage data is done in 15 countries (56%) using various

methods: vaccine sales are used in 47% (n=7) of these countries. Performance

indicators are used in 14 countries (52%), while only 15% (n=4) of countries reported

having a set of minimum functional standards for assessing immunisation coverage. Fifteen countries (56%) have national or local computerized immunisation registries,

with different age groups covered; eight of these countries (53%; 8/15) could use the

registry as means of recording influenza vaccination during a pandemic. In five of

these countries (62%; 5/8) the computerized registry is used to record adverse events

following immunisation.

The data collected show a high degree of variability across the European countries in

the methods they use to estimate vaccination coverage, thus making comparison

between countries of vaccination coverage difficult. However, the data in this report

provide a starting point for further evaluation of the current obstacles to compare

vaccine coverage data across different areas in the Europe.