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INCOMPLETE PNEUMOCOCCAL CONJUGATE VACCINE (PCV) VACCINATION SERIES IN CHILDREN GLOBALLY
Abstract
Background
In countries with pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) national immunization programs (NIPs), some children remain unvaccinated or partially vaccinated with PCV. Incompletely vaccinated children may be at an increased risk of pneumococcal disease compared with children fully vaccinated with the recommended three or four dose PCV schedule.
Aims
Estimate the number of children born in countries with PCV NIPs who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.
Methods
Adherence to PCV recommended schedules were obtained from the latest year of the World Health Organization’s complete first (PCV1), second (PCV2), and final (PCV3) dose data by country. The calculated percentages of children who received no, one, or two PCV dose(s) in the series were multiplied by each country’s 2019 birth cohort. The number of children receiving no, one, or two PCV dose(s) by country was summed to estimate the global percentage of unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children.
Results
Globally, an estimated 14.9%, 4.0%, and 6.8% of children born in countries with PCV NIPs complete no, one, or two doses of the PCV series, respectively (Table 1). This equates to approximately 15.0 million unvaccinated children and 10.9 million partially vaccinated children across PCV-eligible countries in 2019. Overall, countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America with larger birth cohorts had a higher number of incompletely vaccinated children (Table 2).
Conclusions
Of children born in countries with PCV NIPs, nearly 26% are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated with PCVs. Country-specific tactics should be explored to increase PCV vaccination rates and subsequent vaccine impact.