STATUS OF IMMUNIZATION OF CHILDREN AND FACTORS RELATED TO PARTIAL AND NON-IMMUNIZATION

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine: 1) the immunization status of children admitted to pediatric ward of POF Hospital, Wah Cantt. 2) the probable reasons for partial and non-immunization. 3) The sociodemographic factors associated with the immunization status. Methodology: A cross – sectional study of 6 months duration was done in the Pediatric and Gynecology wards of POF Hospital Wah Cantt. The mothers were selected by using convenient sampling technique. A pretested structured questionnaire was used for collection of information. For analysis frequencies and percentages were calculated using SPSS version 19 and Chi square test was applied to find out the association between different sociodemographic factors and immunization status but because of lack of assumption of the test, Fisher’s Exact Test was used to analyze the association. Results: The children who were completely immunized were 87.5% (175), 9.5% (19) were partially immunized while 3% (6) were not immunized. Regarding gender, 94.8% male children while 80.3% female children were completely immunized. The parents who did not vaccinate their children because of fear of side effects were 33%, who thought that only oral polio vaccine was required were 44.5% and 17% considered it bothersome. Health facility was inaccessible for 19% individuals and 23% experienced non availability of vaccines. Fisher s Exact test showed a significant association between educational status of father, mother, as well as place of delivery and immunization status and Chi square test showed significant association between gender of children and immunization status. Conclusion: The immunization status of the children was fairly satisfactory and the rates of immunization are strongly influenced by educational status of parents. Vaccination rate was high in male children and linked with the place of delivery. The reasons of non and partial immunization were inaccessibility, non availability of vaccine, fear of side effects, inadequate awareness and inconvenience for the parents.