scholarly journals ‘When you welcome well, you vaccinate well’: a qualitative study on improving vaccination coverage in urban settings in Conakry, Republic of Guinea

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julita Gil Cuesta ◽  
Katherine Whitehouse ◽  
Salimou Kaba ◽  
Kassi Nanan-N’Zeth ◽  
Benoit Haba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Urban Settings ◽  
Republic Of Guinea ◽  
Measles Outbreak ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Measles Outbreaks ◽  
Vaccination Campaigns

Abstract Background Recurrent measles outbreaks followed by mass vaccination campaigns (MVCs) occur in urban settings in sub-Saharan countries. An understanding of the reasons for this is needed to improve future vaccination strategies. The 2017 measles outbreak in Guinea provided an opportunity to qualitatively explore suboptimal vaccination coverage within an MVC among participants through their perceptions, experiences and challenges. Methods We conducted focus group discussions with caregivers (n=68) and key informant interviews (n=13) with health professionals and religious and community leaders in Conakry. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim from Susu and French, coded and thematically analysed. Results Vaccinations were widely regarded positively and their preventive benefits noted. Vaccine side effects and the subsequent cost of treatment were commonly reported concerns, with further knowledge requested. Community health workers (CHWs) play a pivotal role in MVCs. Caregivers suggested recruiting CHWs from local neighbourhoods and improving their attitude, knowledge and skills to provide information about vaccinations. Lack of trust in vaccines, CHWs and the healthcare system, particularly after the 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic, were also reported. Conclusions Improving caregivers’ knowledge of vaccines, potential side effects and their management are essential to increase MVC coverage in urban settings. Strengthening CHWs’ capacities and appropriate recruitment are key to improving trust through a community involvement approach.

scholarly journals Quantifying the success of measles vaccination campaigns in the Rohingya refugee camps

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor Chin ◽  
Caroline O. Buckee ◽  
Ayesha S. Mahmud
Keyword(s):  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Public Health Importance ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Measles Outbreak ◽  
Coverage Rates ◽  
Measles Outbreaks ◽  
Vaccination Campaigns

AbstractIn the wake of the Rohingya population’s mass migration from Myanmar, one of the world’s largest refugee settlements was constructed in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh to accommodate nearly 900,000 new refugees. Refugee populations are particularly vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks due to many population and environmental factors. A large measles outbreak, with over 2,500 cases, occurred among the Rohingya population between September and December 2017. Here, we estimate key epidemiological parameters and use a dynamic mathematical model of measles transmission to evaluate the effectiveness of the reactive vaccination campaigns in the refugee camps. We also estimate the potential for subsequent outbreaks under different vaccination coverage scenarios. Our modeling results highlight the success of the vaccination campaigns in rapidly curbing transmission and emphasize the public health importance of maintaining high levels of vaccination in this population, where high birth rates and historically low vaccination coverage rates create suitable conditions for future measles outbreaks.

scholarly journals The importance of supplementary immunisation activities to prevent measles outbreaks during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya

BMC Medicine ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. N. Mburu ◽  
◽  
J. Ojal ◽  
R. Chebet ◽  
D. Akech ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
African Region ◽  
Population Immunity ◽  
Measles Outbreak ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Measles Vaccination ◽  
Serological Data ◽  
Measles Outbreaks ◽  
Measles Vaccination Coverage

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted routine measles immunisation and supplementary immunisation activities (SIAs) in most countries including Kenya. We assessed the risk of measles outbreaks during the pandemic in Kenya as a case study for the African Region. Methods Combining measles serological data, local contact patterns, and vaccination coverage into a cohort model, we predicted the age-adjusted population immunity in Kenya and estimated the probability of outbreaks when contact-reducing COVID-19 interventions are lifted. We considered various scenarios for reduced measles vaccination coverage from April 2020. Results In February 2020, when a scheduled SIA was postponed, population immunity was close to the herd immunity threshold and the probability of a large outbreak was 34% (8–54). As the COVID-19 contact restrictions are nearly fully eased, from December 2020, the probability of a large measles outbreak will increase to 38% (19–54), 46% (30–59), and 54% (43–64) assuming a 15%, 50%, and 100% reduction in measles vaccination coverage. By December 2021, this risk increases further to 43% (25–56), 54% (43–63), and 67% (59–72) for the same coverage scenarios respectively. However, the increased risk of a measles outbreak following the lifting of all restrictions can be overcome by conducting a SIA with ≥ 95% coverage in under-fives. Conclusion While contact restrictions sufficient for SAR-CoV-2 control temporarily reduce measles transmissibility and the risk of an outbreak from a measles immunity gap, this risk rises rapidly once these restrictions are lifted. Implementing delayed SIAs will be critical for prevention of measles outbreaks given the roll-back of contact restrictions in Kenya.

Silencing the virus? Government communication and MMR vaccination campaigns – the Australian case

2021 ◽  
pp. 2046147X2110140
Author(s):  
Roumen Dimitrov
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Winning Strategy ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Australian Case ◽  
Negative Side Effects ◽  
Vaccination Campaigns

In this paper I analyse a series of Australian MMR (measles-mumpsrubella) vaccination campaigns and policies from the last decade. Using the Bruno Latour’s Actor Network Theory (ATN), I locate human and non-human mediators – including the virus and vaccine – in the complex pro-vaccination alliance led by government campaigners. I identify the vaccine hesitant parents – a large group that ‘sits on the fence’ between the ‘vaccine confident’ and ‘vaccine refusing’ parents – as the main target of pro-vaccination campaigns. PR literature on pro-vaccination campaigns has applied ATN to the independence of the media as network agents. This paper contributes with the problematisation of several more actors such as the health workers, medical experts and the vaccine hesitant parents themselves. Even when they are keen members of a pro-vaccination network, they cannot be taken for granted. This is where understanding of stigma, silence and voice helps. To align their group interests and discourses, government should know how to communicate strategically – including how to communicate indirectly, avoiding stigma and keeping certain internal affinities and communicative distances intact. In conclusion, I make suggestions about strategic communication in pro-vaccination campaigns. Communication of statistical risks and side effects should be central. It is a winning strategy because it establishes a more credible balance between individual rights and collective obligations in achieving herd immunity. And mandating vaccination cannot replace communication. Research shows that legislating compulsory vaccination may have short-term and relatively small effects. They are almost negligible in the long run. Mandate may trigger compliance, but it also causes anger and mistrust. Mandating vaccine has negative side effects. It punishes with economic and cultural sanctions the socially disadvantaged, who are not active refusers. It also has the opposite effect on vaccine hesitant parents. It does not weaken but rather strengthens their resistance to the vaccine and pushes them to the lager of antivaxxers.

scholarly journals Effective control measures limited measles outbreak after extensive nosocomial exposures in January-February 2008 in Gothenburg, Sweden

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (30) ◽  
Author(s):  
P Follin ◽  
L Dotevall ◽  
M Jertborn ◽  
Y Khalid ◽  
J Å Liljeqvist ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Imported Case ◽  
Measles Outbreak ◽  
Measles Outbreaks ◽  
Rubella Vaccination ◽  
And Control

In January-February 2008, one imported case of measles initiated a series of exposures with around 380 nosocomial secondary contacts. Susceptible individuals were traced early and control measures were initiated that managed to limit the consequences considerably. Only four secondary cases were identified by the end of March. This minor outbreak illustrates the importance and efficiency of early control measures as well as the fact that the risk of measles outbreaks still exists in a country that has high measles, mumps, rubella vaccination coverage among children.

scholarly journals Measles outbreak risk in Pakistan: exploring the potential of combining vaccination coverage and incidence data with novel data-streams to strengthen control

2018 ◽  
Vol 146 (12) ◽  
pp. 1575-1583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Wesolowski ◽  
Amy Winter ◽  
Andrew J. Tatem ◽  
Taimur Qureshi ◽  
Kenth Engø-Monsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Data Streams ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
Incidence Data ◽  
Mobility Data ◽  
Measles Outbreak ◽  
Measles Outbreaks

AbstractAlthough measles incidence has reached historic lows in many parts of the world, the disease still causes substantial morbidity globally. Even where control programs have succeeded in driving measles locally extinct, unless vaccination coverage is maintained at extremely high levels, susceptible numbers may increase sufficiently to spark large outbreaks. Human mobility will drive potentially infectious contacts and interact with the landscape of susceptibility to determine the pattern of measles outbreaks. These interactions have proved difficult to characterise empirically. We explore the degree to which new sources of data combined with existing public health data can be used to evaluate the landscape of immunity and the role of spatial movement for measles introductions by retrospectively evaluating our ability to predict measles outbreaks in vaccinated populations. Using inferred spatial patterns of accumulation of susceptible individuals and travel data, we predicted the timing of epidemics in each district of Pakistan during a large measles outbreak in 2012–2013 with over 30 000 reported cases. We combined these data with mobility data extracted from over 40 million mobile phone subscribers during the same time frame in the country to quantify the role of connectivity in the spread of measles. We investigate how different approaches could contribute to targeting vaccination efforts to reach districts before outbreaks started. While some prediction was possible, accuracy was low and we discuss key uncertainties linked to existing data streams that impede such inference and detail what data might be necessary to robustly infer timing of epidemics.

scholarly journals An agent-based model of school closing in under-vaccinated communities during measles outbreaks

SIMULATION ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 95 (5) ◽  
pp. 385-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne M Getz ◽  
Colin Carlson ◽  
Eric Dougherty ◽  
Travis C Porco ◽  
Richard Salter
Keyword(s):  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vaccination Rate ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
School Closing ◽  
Measles Outbreak ◽  
Measles Outbreaks ◽  
Low Coverage ◽  
Range Of Values

The winter 2014–15 measles outbreak in the United States represents a significant crisis in the emergence of a functionally extirpated pathogen. Conclusively linking this outbreak to decreases in the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination rate (driven by anti-vaccine sentiment) is critical to motivating MMR vaccination. We used the NOVA modeling platform to build a stochastic, spatially-structured, individual-based SEIR model of outbreaks, under the assumption that [Formula: see text] for measles. We show this implies that herd immunity requires vaccination coverage of greater than approximately 85%. We used a network structured version of our NOVA model that involved two communities, one at the relatively low coverage of 85% coverage and one at the higher coverage of 95%, both of which had 400-student schools embedded, as well as students occasionally visiting superspreading sites (e.g., high-density theme parks, and cinemas). These two vaccination coverage levels are within the range of values occurring across Californian counties. Transmission rates at schools and superspreading sites were arbitrarily set to respectively 5 and 15 times the background community rates. Simulations of our model demonstrate that a ‘send unvaccinated students home’ policy in low coverage counties is extremely effective at shutting down outbreaks of measles.

scholarly journals The impact of reactive mass vaccination campaigns on measles outbreaks in the Katanga region, Democratic Republic of Congo

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Funk ◽  
Saki Takahashi ◽  
Joel Hellewell ◽  
Kartini Gadroen ◽  
Isidro Carrion-Martin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Vaccination Campaign ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Mass Vaccination ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Measles Outbreaks ◽  
Vaccination Campaigns ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe Katanga region in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been struck by repeated epidemics of measles, with large outbreaks occurring in 2010–13 and 2015. In many of the affected health zones, reactive mass vaccination campaigns were conducted in response to the outbreaks. Here, we attempted to determine how effective the vaccination campaigns in 2015 were in curtailing the ongoing outbreak. We further sought to establish whether the risk of large measles outbreaks in different health zones could have been determined in advance to help prioritise areas for vaccination campaign and speed up the response. In doing so, we first attempted to identify factors that could have been used in 2015 to predict in which health zones the greatest outbreaks would occur. Administrative vaccination coverage was not a good predictor of the size of outbreaks in different health zones. Vaccination coverage derived from surveys, on the other hand, appeared to give more reliable estimates of health zones of low vaccination coverage and, consequently, large outbreaks. On a coarser geographical scale, the provinces most affected in 2015 could be predicted from the outbreak sizes in 2010–13. This, combined with the fact that the vast majority of reported cases were in under-5 year olds, would suggest that there are systematic issues of undervaccination. If this was to continue, outbreaks would be expected to continue to occur in the affected health zones at regular intervals, mostly concentrated in under-5 year olds. We further used a model of measles transmission to estimate the impact of the vaccination campaigns, by first fitting a model to the data including the campaigns and then re-running this without vaccination. We estimated the reactive campaigns to have reduced the size of the overall outbreak by approximately 21,000 (IQR: 16,000–27,000; 95% CI: 8300–38,000) cases. There was considerable heterogeneity in the impact of campaigns, with campaigns started earlier after the start of an outbreak being more impactful. Taken together, these findings suggest that while a strong routine vaccination regime remains the most effective means of measles control, it might be possible to improve the effectiveness of reactive campaigns by considering predictive factors to trigger a more targeted vaccination response.

scholarly journals Measles Outbreak in Complex Emergency: Estimating Vaccine Effectiveness and Evaluation of the Vaccination Response in Borno State, Nigeria, 2019

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Eudes Jean Baptiste ◽  
John Wagai ◽  
Richard Ray Luce ◽  
Balcha Girma Masresha ◽  
Don Klinkenberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Vaccination Campaign ◽  
Screening Method ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Vaccine Effectiveness ◽  
Outbreak Response ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Measles Outbreak ◽  
Complex Emergency ◽  
Measles Outbreaks

Abstract Background: From January to May 2019, large measles outbreaks affected all states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory. Borno state was the most affected by the measles outbreak recording 15,237 suspected cases with the state capital of Maiduguri having 1,125 confirmed cases by March 2019. Twenty-two Local Government Areas (LGAs or Districts) and 37 internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps had been affected. In response to the situation, outbreak response immunization (ORI) was conducted. In addition to conventional vaccination teams, special teams were deployed in security compromised areas, areas with migrants, and for nomadic and IDPs. Here we describe the ORI and estimated the vaccine effectiveness (VE) for measles-containing vaccine (MCV) to assess the population-level impact. A post-campaign coverage survey (PCCS) was also carried out to assess the vaccination coverage.Methods: We reviewed the outbreak response-associated immunization activities, and conducted an analysis of the surveillance and the outbreak investigation reports. We evaluated VE of MCV by applying the screening-method using data from the measles outbreak and the latest mass vaccination campaign. The PCCS was conducted after completion of the ORI through a quantitative survey assessment in 1,800 households in 12 LGAs involved in the response.Results: Of the total 15,237 reported measles cases, 2,002 cases were line-listed and investigated, and 737 were confirmed for measles as at epidemiological week 9. Of the investigated cases 67.3% (n = 1,348) were between 9 and 59 months of age. Among the 737 confirmed cases, only 9% (n = 64) stated being vaccinated with at least 1 dose of MCV. The median VE for MCV is 96.7% (95%CI: 94.7 – 98.1), and 87.3% (95%CI: 71.0 – 95.2) when vaccine was received at 9 – 11. The aggregated weighted vaccination coverage is 85.7% (95%CI: 79.6 – 90.1).Conclusion: The experience in Borno demonstrates that adequate VE can be obtained in conflict-affected areas. In complex emergency affected by measles outbreaks, health authorities may consider integration with other health strategies and the engagement of security personnel as part of the ORI activities.

scholarly journals Community’s perception of measles immunization in Sleman

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 281
Author(s):  
Yulia Irene Wahyunarni ◽  
Riris Andono Ahmad ◽  
Atik Tri Ratnawati
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Community Perception ◽  
Under Five ◽  
Measles Outbreaks ◽  
The Village

Community perception of measles immunization in SlemanPurposeThis study conducted to explore the community’s perception of measles immunization in Sleman.MethodsA phenomenological study was conducted involving interviews of the head of neighborhood’s ladies who were highly respected by their citizens, mothers with toddlers but refused immunizations, immunized toddler mothers, health workers who did not immunize their children based on information from FGDs of mothers who refused immunization, a toddler father who does not allow his child to be immunized, community leaders and religious leaders, in the village of Sukoharjo whose area has been infected with measles outbreaks. ResultsThe study found that first, people perceived that immunization has no benefit and even causes side effects for children’s under-five health. Second, the community perceives that immunization of measles is not mandatory because of the lack of the government's role in enforcing regulations related to measles immunization. Third, the perception of people against measles immunization is influenced by the behavior of health workers and religious leaders. ConclusionsThe side effects of measles immunization, the influence of health workers' behavior and religious figures related to non-immunization against measles, and the lack of government's role in enforcing regulations related to the appeal of measles immunization are the factors that influence community's perception and a decision of not doing measles immunization. Government appeals related to immunization need to be improved, and in addition, education related to measles hazard should be done to the community, religious leaders and health workers to increase awareness and awareness of the dangers of measles.

Reducing Geographical Imbalances of Health Workers in Sub-Saharan Africa

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Lemiere ◽  
Christopher Herbst ◽  
Negda Jahanshahi ◽  
Ellen Smith ◽  
Agnest Souca
Keyword(s):  
Health Workers ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document