Immunisation coverage of Queensland Indigenous two-year-old children by cluster sampling and by register

  1. Susan Vlack1,*,
  2. Rosemary Foster2,
  3. Robert Menzies3,
  4. Gail Williams4,
  5. Cindy Shannon4,
  6. Ian Riley4

Article first published online: 5 OCT 2007

DOI: 10.1111/j.1753-6405.2007.00013.x

Issue

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health

Volume 31, Issue 1, pages 67–72, February 2007

Additional Information

How to Cite

Vlack, S., Foster, R., Menzies, R., Williams, G., Shannon, C. and Riley, I. (2007), Immunisation coverage of Queensland Indigenous two-year-old children by cluster sampling and by register. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 31: 67–72. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-6405.2007.00013.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    School of Population Health, University of Queensland

  2. 2

    School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Australian Capital Territory

  3. 3

    National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Children's Hospital at Westmead, New South Wales, and University of Sydney, New South Wales

  4. 4

    School of Population Health, University of Queensland

* Centre for Indigenous Health, level 3, Edith Cavell Building, Royal Brisbane Hospital, Herston, Queensland 4029. Fax: (07) 3365 5550; e-mail:s.vlack@uq.edu.au

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 5 OCT 2007
  2. Article first published online: 5 OCT 2007
  3. Revision requested: August 2006 Accepted: January 2007

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Abstract

Objectives: To obtain, through a survey, estimates of immunisation coverage in a birth cohort of Indigenous children, and to compare survey estimates with those obtained from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) for the same birth cohort of Indigenous children.

Methods: Cluster sampling of a birth cohort of two-year-old Indigenous children across Queensland, stratified according to accessibility/remoteness from services, was undertaken in 2003. An innovative method of identifying participants was used. Survey results of 10 vaccine doses were compared with ACIR data.

Results: The survey obtained a 4% sample of the birth cohort (137 children). Universally recommended vaccines showed high levels of coverage at 12 and 24 months, and survey estimates were slightly higher than ACIR estimates. Diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine dose 3 (DTPa3) coverage was 93.8% (95% CI 88.0–99.6) by 12 months on survey and 87.5% on ACIR. Coverage was not timely and a lag phase of 4–6 months occurred for each vaccine dose. Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine dose 2 (Hib2), scheduled for the age of four months, reached 90% coverage by nine months of age in the survey children.

Conclusion: Both methods reported here provided similar results.

Implications: These data indicate that ACIR Indigenous reporting rates have increased and coverage estimates are comparable to those provided by a survey. Immunisation coverage appears to be high, and the main remaining challenge in further reducing vaccine-preventable disease in Indigenous children is to improve immunisation timeliness.

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