English summary: VACCINATION COVERAGE AMONG FINNISH INFANTS LESS THAN 3 YEARS OF AGE - A POPULATION-BASED SURVEY

Background

High immunization coverage is essential for the control and elimination of vaccine-preventable diseases. In Finland, immunization coverage is followed through surveys carried out every second year.

Methods

A random sample of 1000 children born in 1999 and living in Finland were selected for the study. Their vaccination data for the first 2-3 years of life was collected from child health centres. Children were considered fully vaccinated if they had received the following vaccine doses: 1 Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), 4 diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP, mostly whole-cell), 3 Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), 2 polio (mostly inactivated), and 1 measles-mumps-rubella (MMR). Vaccination coverage estimates with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for the overall immunization, for vaccination series with consequent doses and for each specific dose.

Results

A total of 994 of the randomly selected 1000 children could be located and their vaccination data could thus be requested. The proportion of fully vaccinated children was 93.3% (927/994, 95% CI 91.5-94.7). Immunization coverage varied only slightly between individual vaccine series: BCG 98.3%, DTP 95.6%, Hib 96.2%, polio 95.9% and MMR 96.6%. Dose-specific coverage was higher for the doses recommended up to 12 months of age (97.6-98.3%) than for those recommended during the second year of life (95.4-96.6%).

Conclusions

Immunization coverage remains high in Finland, indicating parental confidence in vaccines.