Vaccination Coverage in Children of Fars Province, 2017: Achievement of Global Vaccine Action Plan Goals

Vaccines are among the most available effective tools to prevent infectious diseases. The Global Vaccine Action Plan 2011–2020 (GVAP) compelled all nations to reach ≥90% national coverage for all vaccines by 2020. The aim of this study was to determine the vaccination coverage in children aged 0-18 months in Fars province, southern Iran. In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from 28 cities of Fars province, in which 6229 children 0-18 months were studied using multi-stage sampling. Information about vaccination was collected by a door-to-door survey and approved by the vaccination card at six age ranges of at birth, and at 2, 4, 6, 12 and 18 months of age. The findings showed that 98.6% of children had vaccination card, and the highest coverage rate was at birth. The vaccination coverage at birth, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months were 99.96, 99.93, 99.90, 99.75, 99.70 and 99.20% respectively. In this study, the vaccination coverage at all times was high and close to 100%. Immunization coverage will be reached the GVAP goals by 2020. However, maintaining this coverage level and solving some problems can promote vaccine-preventable diseases surveillance system.