Abstract

IMMUNIZATION STATUS AND PERCEPTION ON THE USE OF OPTIONAL VACCINES BY THE PARENTS OF CHILDREN UNDER 2 YEARS AGE

Ajith Babu*, Ruksana, Parimalakrishnan S. and Chidambaranathan S.

ABSTRACT

Aim: To study the immunization status of children less than 2 years age and perception on the use of optional vaccine by parents. Methodology: An Observational, Cross sectional and Prospective study was conducted in the Department of Paediatrics at Rajah Muthiah Medical College & Hospital. Study was conducted from November 2014 – April2015. Subjects were enrolled based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria .Subject’s perception was assessed with the questionnaires twice known as pre – intervention and post intervention sessions. Simultaneously the Immunization status of the children for routine and optional vaccination was collected through data collection form and analyzed.Results: The study was conducted on two scale samples, the children for assessing the immunization status and their parents for analyzing their perception on optional vaccine usage which included pre -interventional and post interventional sessions. A total of 75 respondents were enrolled in the study. Out of them 54.6% were male and 45.4 % were female children respectively. The hospitals were cited as the main source of information. The completely (81.4%) and partially immunized (18.6%) for routine vaccines whereas partially immunized (47%) and non – immunized (53%) for optional vaccines. Unawareness was the major reason for partial immunization and non-immunization in routine vaccination (42%) and optional vaccination (79.4%) respectively. Observed that in pre intervention (2.7%) and on post intervention session (70.6%) participants were in favor of optional vaccination.In our study, we found a significance difference between pre intervention and post intervention data (P=

Keywords: Optional vaccines, Routine vaccines, Immunization status, Perception.